Fire Sword: Shrouded Destiny
by Mataras
Summary: The realms of Ylisse, Regna Ferox, Valm, and even Plegia have been at peace for some years now. The wounds inflicted upon the world by Grima and his followers have become but memories, and now the newest generation of Shepherds has risen to keep the peace in their fair land. Yet the peace is soon to be broken by those who would see a dark master return to drown the light once again
1. Plans

**A/N: Merry Christmas, and welcome back! You know, I really tried to leave this story behind, tried to let everyone have their happy endings, but then I had to go and think about what everyone's kids would be doing when they grew up, and then the story just started to write itself. So good news for you guys, we're going on another adventure- but not with the Shepherds and heroes of SAO that we're familiar with.**

 **This is the story of the next generation of Shepherds rising to take up the standard in defending their world! The OG Shepherds and SAO survivors will make some appearances, but for the most part they will not take an active part in this story. Instead, the new group will consist of some familiar faces with new names, such as Chrom and Sumia's daughters, Lilina and Celica (the current timeline's Lucina and Cynthia, in case you were wondering), and some all-new characters, like Robin and Lucina's grandchildren, Oliver and Kiara. If you haven't, make sure you go back to Fire Sword and read chapter 52, To The Future, in order get yourself familiar with these new characters among others. Just for a bit of context, though, this new group are all aged about 17-20 years old.**

 **I will likely be releasing chapters for this story about once a month or so (maybe, hopefully). In any case, enjoy your Christmas present from your's truly, and be sure to go check out the other stories I updated today, Saiyan Tail, and The Red Swordsman: Shattered Fragment.**

 **Also, if you haven't already, subscribe to me on YouTube at NotYourAverage Productions in order to get access to the early release of this story via audio chapters, read by me!**

 **Please read, review, and most importantly, enjoy!**

* * *

Plans

"This is a terrible idea."

"This is an excellent idea."

"No, it's just the only one you could think of," the first speaker huffed as she tapped her foot on the ground impatiently. She was a slightly built young woman with long blue hair and armed with a two-handed sword.

Her companion gave her an easy smile as she patted her own sword hanging from her waist, saying, "Look, Grandpa says that as long as you have plans A, B, and C, you're good to go." She too wore dark blue hair, though hers was much shorter than her companion's.

It had often been remarked that the two of them looked like sisters, with their nearly identical builds, alabaster skin tones, and similar face shapes.

"Okay then, 'Tactician," interrupted a young male voice as the owner crossed his arms and gave them both a slightly annoyed look. "What are plans, A, B, and C?" He was dressed head-to-toe in black that matched his longish raven locks, complete with a pitch-black sword strapped to his back.

"Questioning a superior officer?" the first girl said with an impish grin. "That's not tolerable, is it, Lieutenant Lilina?"

"No, indeed, Tactician Kiara," the girl with the two-handed sword agreed. "I do believe that this soldier needs to be given appropriate punishment for his actions."

The black-garbed young man's cheeks burned as both girls grinned predatorily at him. "Okay, I know you're just having some fun at my expense, but you're starting to cross the 'creepy' border…" he said nervously as he backed up a pace before realizing that he was standing on a cliff, and they were lots of potentially sharp rocks beneath the roiling ocean waves that were crashing against the natural barrier.

"Wow, Mako has two beauties like us threatening him with a good time, and he calls us creepy?" Lilina sniggered. "Rude."

"Seriously, why did you guys call me up here?" the boy demanded. "I really hope it wasn't just to make me incredibly uncomfortable…"

"You wanna know what plan A is, at least?" Kiara replied, dropping the whole 'clueless girl' act she'd been putting on. With a hard gleam in her eyes as she stared down at the coastal fishing village, dressed in a coat reminiscent of her grandfather's infamous garb, she looked every bit the Shepherd's Tactician that she was supposed to be.

"Please do," Mako said with an audible sigh of relief.

The three of them were trying to figure out how to approach a village where a child had gone missing recently, the first in a group of several neighboring settlements. It was their first assignment without the direct supervision of their parents, the fabled Shepherd Warriors that had slain the Fell Dragon, Grima. It was a big legacy to live up to, so the group of young men and women were only too happy to try and get their bearings in a backwater assignment like this one.

Kiara was the ranking officer in their little militia, and Lilina, the Crown Princess of the Halidom of Ylisse, was her second-in-command. Many would have thought it odd, a lowborn girl giving the orders, but Kiara had proven herself against some pretty high standards set by her grandfather, the man who had slain Grima twenty years prior.

In addition to the three of them, there were about a dozen other young Shepherds, all of them in their late teens and early twenties. Some were fighters, others healers, and a couple of them were even royalty, both foreign and domestic.

"Plan A is that we send two pairs into town, one to talk to the locals as travelers just passing through, and one to interview the parents directly, as Shepherds," Kiara explained as they all took stock of the village they would be investigating. "I'm thinking Altman and Gilbert can handle the locals since they look the most unassuming out of any of us."

"Pity any chap that thinks that about Gil," Mako chuckled. Gilbert was the son of Lord Ricken and Lady Suguha, happened to be Mako's cousin, and might have been the strongest wind mage the country had seen in generations. At age seventeen, he was already a master of the incredibly lethal Rexcalibur spell, a magic that most mages could spend years training for, yet never master. His Sylph wings only added to his considerable power and talent.

 _Oh, wait…_

"We're sure the guy with giant green fairy wings is the one we want to send in?" Lilina argued, echoing Mako's thoughts.

"He has a cloak he can put over them," Kiara retorted, the blue Undine wings that she had inherited from her mother buzzing slightly in irritation. "Problem solved."

"I still think that he's too high-profile," Lilina argued.

"Gil can handle it," Mako interjected, shoving aside his doubts. "Besides, if I were in Altman's shoes, I'd feel a lot better knowing that I've got one of our best battle mages next to me." Altman, the son of Brady and Noire from the apocalyptic futures ruined by Grima, was perhaps one of the weediest and sickly human beings ever born. Ironically, his skills in the healing arts were only surpassed by Princess Lissa, his father, and of course, the Royal Healer, Yui Kirigaya.

"Okay, so that's team one," Lilina said. "Who's going in team two?"

"Part of why I called Mako up here," Kiara answered. "He and one other person can handle the parents of the child that's gone missing. I'm just having an issue figuring out who to send with him."

"Kerry?" Lilina suggested. "They could do good guard, bad guard." The tougher-than-steel daughter of Sully and Stahl was an imposing figure in her hulking armor, just like her future counterpart, Kjelle.

"I dunno…" Mako said as he jerked his head over his shoulder, indicating his black Spriggan wings. "They might jump to the conclusion of bad guard, bad guard. People that don't know me usually think that I'm a demon first time we meet."

"They loved you in Regna Ferox," Kiara countered.

"That's Ferox, these are normal people," Mako deadpanned.

"Fair point," the blue-haired tactician shrugged. "Then how about Ignacio?"

"This place is going to have several girls that are of age who have never met him before," Lilina said with a negative shake of her head. "He'd spend the whole time trying to convince them to grab a cup of tea with him."

"We are running out of options rather quickly here," Mako pointed out.

"You're free to suggest someone," Kiara shrugged.

"I think… Celica," he answered at length. "Yes, she'd be a good partner to bring along."

"We are talking about my sister, right?" Lilina asked dubiously. "Trips over air? Nearly speared herself rolling out of bed this morning?"

"That's the one," Mako grinned brightly. "Look, if I'm going to be playing 'bad guard', which I really doubt I can pull off, if I'm being honest- Celica is the perfect candidate to counterbalance."

"I don't know about this…" Kiara said with a slight grimace. "Lilina does make a good point… She could well end up gutting someone if she tried to hug them."

"She's trained just as hard as we have for this kind of thing, give her a chance," Mako said. "Look, if you're really against her going, I'll ask Oliver if he will accompany me. But I think it would be a good confidence booster for her if we pull this off."

"Why does she need a confidence booster?" Lilina asked with a slight frown.

"Come on, you guys are the leaders, you should know your troops," Mako chuckled a bit.

Kiara and Lilina exchanged a glance, the princess shrugging when she failed to come up with an answer. "She's your sister, Lilina," the tactician said with a small sigh. "She's been in your shadow since the two of you could pick up practice weapons, and beyond that, the shadow of Lucina and Cynthia. Mako is saying- and now I agree with him- that this would be a good first step toward her coming into her own."

"Oh," Lilina muttered, her cheeks coloring a bit. "Well, when you put it that way, then yeah, take Celica with you."

"All right," the black-garbed swordsman grinned. "So, Altman and Gilbert ask the townsfolk what's what while keeping a low profile, meanwhile Celica and I go to have a chat with the missing girl's parents as Shepherds. I miss anything?"

"Nope," Kiara chirped. "Go and let them know to get their stuff together, Lilina and I will be along in a few moments."

"Yes ma'am," Mako said with a mock salute as he walked away, back toward the camp the Shepherds had set up.

Once he was away and out of earshot, Lilina sighed and muttered, "Kind of wish I could go with him instead of Celica."

"Yeah, but I need my top lieutenant handy in case I need my orders delivered to the troops," Kiara grinned evilly.

"I'm starting to think that half the reason you asked me to take this job was to keep an eye on your rival," Lilina replied with a matching smirk.

"I don't have a rival, because there is no competition," the tactician replied. "Lady Yui made _that_ abundantly clear." The two of them shuddered slightly as they remembered the threats that the elder Kirigaya sibling had delivered them the last time that they had argued over Mako.

"Seriously though, we need to sort out whatever this is between us and him," Lilina argued. "We're good when it comes to planning the mission and all that, but it's gotten rather awkward around the dinner fires, haven't you noticed? I hate that."

"I know," Kiara sighed. "I'm just trying to do my job and focus on the mission right now, though. I want this situation resolved just as much- if not more- than you do. But we can't force him to like either of us. I'd prefer to focus on the things that we can affect right now, like maybe saving some kids from a potential slaver's gang."

"I hate having things unresolved," Lilina grumbled as they began walking back to camp at a leisurely pace.

"Like father, like daughter," her friend grinned.

* * *

"And what'll the rest of us be doing, seeing as we're not good enough to go into town, apparently?" Elizabeth huffed, crossing her arms petulantly.

"Look, I'm not the commanding officer here, take it up with her," Mako replied, shooting the redhead daughter of Klein and Cordelia an annoyed look. "I'm not the one coming up with the plan, I'm just following orders."

"Of course _you're_ happy following orders," the girl shot back. "You're Kiara's favorite."

Mako reddened rapidly, the fact that the newest Shepherd's tactician held feelings for him still a sore point, seeing as he didn't know if he reciprocated those feelings or not. Not to mention his relationship with Elizabeth had never been a good one, so there was already plenty of tension in the air between them.

"That's enough out of you, Elizabeth," Oliver said sternly, interposing himself between the two young warriors. "Unless you want a repeat of our last sparring session, I suggest you stand down."

The girl flushed angrily, but she dared not lash out at Oliver. Even when compared to Odin and Lilina, the boy was peerless in martial combat, armed or otherwise, and he had little tolerance for insubordination. The fact that she was a girl meant nothing to their group, either- if you were a member of the Shepherds, you were an equal, which could work either way.

"Just sayin…" she eventually muttered, turning to stomp her way over to the mess tent.

Mako breathed a huge sigh of relief and turned to his comrade, saying, "Thank you."

"No problem," Oliver grinned. "She's just not used to being away from her family, is all. I'm sure she'll warm up to us in time."

"She's already hot stuff, so there's no need to wait for her to get warm," Ignacio smirked, staring after the fiery girl. "One day, I swear I will get her to get that cup of tea with me…"

"When pigs sprout alf wings," Gilbert, a young man with dark hair and blue eyes, remarked as he turned the page on a book he was studying. Emerald wings on his back floated gently in the mid-afternoon breeze, giving him a dignified appearance.

"My determination transcends common sense!" Ignacio replied unabashed.

"Yet your day-to-day habits fall below it," Gilbert remarked dryly.

"Why, you…!"

"Er-hem!" Kiara coughed as she and Lilina walked into the camp. "Have the others been briefed?"

"Elizabeth is currently torching some undeserving shrubs while the rest of us were illustrating to Ignacio his poor choice of habits," the Sylph boy answered, still not looking up from his book. "I'm sure you can guess what has occurred based on that."

"Excellent, then let's get you four going," Lilina ordered. Mako, Altman, Celica, and Gilbert all nodded and made their way over to the supply tent, where they would grab their weapons and any other supplies that they would need. Lilina's rambunctious sister could be heard bubbling over with excitement about her first official mission as a fully-fledged Shepherd.

 _Mako was right, she needs this,_ the princess thought with a small sigh.

"Is it really wise to risk one of our _two_ healers like this?" Yinne asked nervously as he watched them go. "If I die along the way, you're going to owe my entire species a massive apology…" Brian- one of said healers- snorted in derision as he returned his attention to a poultice he had been making.

"You sure you're not part chicken?" Teela, the group's manakete teased her friend. "I mean, you _look_ like a rabbit, but you really _sound_ like a chicken."

"Says the one whose race isn't on the verge of dying out!" Yinne whined. Like his future counterpart, he had inherited a very acute fear that he would be the last of his taguel bloodline.

"He will be if he doesn't toughen up!" Kerry, a rather muscular girl in heavy armor declared as she cuffed the half-taguel around the neck, prompting him to squawk with alarm. "C'mon, bunny boy, show me what you got!"

"Put him down, Kerry," Kiara ordered in a tone that brooked no argument. "He's part of my plan for this town, and I need him healthy." The tomboy muttered something unintelligible but acquiesced, both to the relief and apprehension of her victim.

"P-Plan?" Yinne repeated nervously. "What plan? I'm not good with plans, don't plan with me in the plan!"

* * *

The young Shepherds entered the town in their assigned pairs about fifteen minutes apart. Mako and Celica went in first, identifying themselves as Shepherds to the town's guard, and gaining easy access. The watchman even went so far as to give them directions to the establishment they were seeking.

"The Thompsons' is two streets down, take a left, then at the end of the path," the man said as he indicated the direction they should go. "Careful, though. Bergan's a mean man, not gotten much better with his daughter gone missing."

Mako paused, wondering if it was wise to divulge the nature of their visit, then reached a compromise. "Was he close to her?" he prompted. "His daughter, I mean." He suspected otherwise, but he would rather have an idea before going to meet the family.

"That man's only close to his drink," the watchman snorted. "He's been put in a cell a few times too many for my liking. His wife isn't much better, to be honest. Sometimes I wonder if they even remember that they have a kid."

"I see," Mako mused as he exchanged a glance with Celica, whose mouth was compressed into a thin line of disapproval. She said nothing though, since they had agreed that he would do the talking while they were in town, at least until they made it to the Thompson residence.

He thanked the guard for his cooperation, then set off toward the indicated house with Celica by his side. "What do you think?" he asked in a low voice once they were out of earshot.

"I'm starting to wonder if we're even going to need a 'good guard," the girl replied with an uncharacteristic frown. Normally, she was incredibly cheerful and upbeat, but this news about the neglected child seemed to have her spirits lowered. "These sound like really bad people, Mako."

"Well, that's where Shepherds like us find their work," the boy grinned with a hint of dark humor. "After all, what good would we be if there weren't any wolves to keep away from our flock?" He gave a friendly wave to some passing townsfolk, who repeated the gesture politely, a little boy staring in fascination at his dark wings before being scooped up by his mother, who whispered to him in urgent tones.

"Still makes me mad," the girl replied to his question, gripping her spear a little tighter as they rounded the corner.

"Yeah," he sighed. "Me too."

They reached the door to the house they were seeking less than a minute after that. It was easy to tell which one it was- aside from being the last house on the left, there were bottles and random pieces of junk lying strewn about the yard. The house itself looked to be in bad repair, with holes in the roof, cracked masonry, even a shattered window through which arguing could be heard.

"Are we sure she didn't just run away?" Celica volunteered as they studied the scene. "I know I would."

"Yeah…" Mako said with a frown. "You would… But there's too many other missing people for this to be a coincidence. I think that if there was a kidnapping attempt, you'd want to pick the kid that's most likely to leave on their own, if they had the chance."

"Makes sense," Celica nodded grimly. "Are we still gonna go say hello?"

"Might as well, since we're here," Mako grinned mischievously.

"I can't believe that a town of this size does not possess a book shop," Gilbert muttered, almost sounding offended as he and his comrade stood in the middle of the town square. His wings would have likely buzzed to accentuate his mood, but they were covered and tightly folded against his back by a combination of a large cloak and sash.

"Eh, what book could they have out here that they don't have at the library back home?" Altman, his companion, replied. He was a thin boy with light brown hair and a plain-looking face that let him slip through people's memories quite easily.

"I find different regional variations on the old legends fascinating," Gilbert shrugged. "They can never seem to agree on which nation the Prince Corrin sided with- Nohr, or Hoshido. Some tales even tell the story as Corrin being a woman."

"I'd have pegged you more for a textbook scholar than a lover of fictions," the healer replied with a bit of surprise.

"I find that both have their time and place in life," Gilbert said. "On the one hand, there is so much we can learn about the world around us; things that make us appreciate even the little parts of our day even more. On the other, we can also stand to learn some of those same lessons from people who do not even exist. I often wonder which teacher is more effective, though…"

"Probably depends on the person," Altman said as he indicated a fruit stall and started walking towards it. "Myself, I prefer cold, hard facts. But take someone like Odin…"

"I honesty doubt that man has ever read anything other than his family tree and Sir Robin's accounts of the wars our parents fought in," Gilbert said dryly, though there was a hint of smile on his face as he spoke.

"We're a weird gaggle of people, aren't we?" Altman grinned back.

"It would hardly be interesting otherwise," the Sylph boy replied. "Now, let's see if anyone here knows about this missing 'Elaine' girl…"

Mako banged on the door three times, loudly. "Open up," he called in his best authoritative tone. "We're on business with the Ylissean Shepherds."

"Melissa… go see who's who," a man slurred from inside the house. "The door's… dancin'… an moving away from me reach…"

"You're closer, you see who it is!" a woman's voice shouted waspishly. "I'm busy!"

"Don' talk to me that way, woman!" the man roared back, accompanied by the sound of crashing furniture. "First that girl runs off, an' now you think you can jus' talk back…?! Time… hic… for a lesson in who's in charge around here!"

"I think we've heard enough," Celica said as she leveled her spear at the door.

"Indeed," Mako said, a mixture of sadness and anger equally present in his tone. He hated seeing broken families like this- torn apart when there was every opportunity for them to be at peace with one another.

Nevertheless, they were warriors of the law, and they had a duty to uphold.

 _Wham! Crash!_

Mako's boot broke through the door, splitting it roughly down the middle and sending the pieces flying inside the entrance. The two occupants stared dumbly from where they stood as a young man with black wings and a girl armed with a fine-looking spear came into their common room, both looking very cross.

The man and woman were both dressed, though in garments that looked and smelled like they hadn't had a good wash in weeks. Both of their necks and cheeks were flushed from the effects of too much alcohol, and their movements were sluggish. They had to lean heavily on the pine wood dining table just to maintain their balance.

"Why…?" the man slurred, staring at the remnants of his door. "Why'd… you have to go an'… break my door? That was a nice door… My da gave me that door…"

"The correct response when soldiers come to your house is not to yell at your wife to get the door," Mako replied, his voice deceptively calm. "If you're any kind of man, you come and answer it yourself."

"If we're pointing out things that this guy has done wrong, let's start with how his daughter has been missing, and we only found out about it because she didn't show up for her basic training," Celica said with an overtly bright smile that never reached her eyes.

"Who're… What happens in this house… is my bunisess, none a yers!" The man suddenly reared back exaggeratedly, a large bottle of what looked to be whiskey in his hand. He threw it as hard as he could at Celica, but his aim was completely off, and the bottle simply sailed out the remains of the broken window that Mako had noticed earlier. "Hey… shtop movin'…" the man complained.

"Excellent idea," Mako said as he put his boot up on the table between them, a look of contempt etched into his face. "Stop moving." He exerted a sudden burst of force on the table, shoving it into the couple, causing them both to stumble back and vomit on themselves as their stomachs were upset by the unexpected contact.

"Ugh…" Celica winced. "Did'ja have to do that? It smelled bad enough before."

"Sorry," he apologized to his comrade as the two older adults looked up at them dumbly, fear finally beginning to show in their eyes. "But I think now we can get things moving along."

"G-Guard!" the woman suddenly screamed. "Robbers! _Robbers!_ " Mako moved fast, leaping over the table and placing an iron grip on the woman's face, grimacing as his hand came into contact with bile.

"Don't do that again," he warned them. "I don't want to hurt you any more than I already have, but I will if I must." He released the woman's mouth, keeping his warning glare fixed on her as he said over his shoulder, "Celica, if anyone comes through that door, make sure they know who we are- without violence, if at all possible."

"You're the one kicking stuff," she replied, but turned to do as he had asked.

"Now…" the boy said as he shifted his gaze over to the man, who was flushed angrily. "What do you know about your daughter's disappearance?"

"I don't gotta tell you nothing," the man said, attempting to spit in Mako's eye, but only managing to drool a little bit.

"Actually, you do," Mako replied, his voice growing hard again. "I'm normally not one for harsh treatment, but you two are forcing my hand here. So here's how it's going to be…" He began raising a finger for every point that he rattled off as he said, "One, I'm a Shepherd, which gives me the right to demand information concerning the wellbeing of one of the Halidom's citizens. Two, your refusal to cooperate can be translated as an obstruction of justice, which means I'm well within my power to throw you both in a cell right now. Three, you failed to report that your daughter had gone missing some weeks ago, which is grounds for twenty years in jail for child neglect. Four, you have tried to attack two officers of the law, another crime punishable by jail time. And five…" As his thumb was extended, he turned the motion into a backhanded slap that he delivered to the man, his face growing even more grim, he added, "Disorderly conduct while drunk. That last one's not exactly a capital offence, but put 'em all together, and I'm just pissed off. Now, tell me what I want to know, and I'll see to it that you only get charged for child neglect and drunkenness, the both of you."

The woman spat back something incredibly un-lady-like, causing Mako's eyebrow to shoot up. "Okay, we're wasting our time here," he said with a deep sigh. Wiping his hand on the woman's sleeve, he stood up to go, saying over his shoulder, "We're going to go save your daughter- not that you seem to give a damn. As for you two, enjoy this fresh air." He gestured to the broken door and added, "You'll get little enough of that in prison for the next fifty years. Oh, and I hear the booze in prison is actual piss in a tankard. Have fun with that."

"You'll… hear from our lawman!" the man grunted as he stood heavily, shoving his wife off of him. "You're… You're gonna buh… be sorry!"

"I already am," Mako said under his breath as he stepped out of the small house, his heart heavy. "No child should have to live like that…"

"You coulda been a little nicer," Celica pointed out as she greeted him in the yard.

"I know I should have been, it's just…" Mako closed his eyes against the new memories of a house that no child could truly call their home. "I'm normally better at keeping my temper in control, but when kids are the victims, it's… It's just wrong, you know?"

"Yeah…" Celica nodded somberly. "I know I'm an actual princess, but every little girl should be treated by their dad like they are his princess, right?"

"Yeah…"

* * *

"Well, this was a bust," Altman sighed as he and Gilbert walked out of town. "I guess covert ops are out for you and me, huh?"

"I'd say it was a success," the shorter man said with a bright smile. "Who knew they had the complete works of Walhart's ideology in a backwater like this?!"

"Some Anna probably sold it to 'em a few months back," Altman guessed. " _I_ can't believe you bought that. The man is very dead, and he was very mistaken in his chosen path, as history shows us."

"Know thine enemy," Gilbert shrugged. "Besides, dead or not, he was a brilliant fighter, and I feel I could learn some things from his beliefs."

"The first hint of you trying to abolish Naga's teachings, and I'll show you that my staves ain't just for healing," Altman warned him half-jokingly.

"Fair enough," the Sylph mage chuckled.

* * *

Mako and Celica returned to camp with dejected looks on their faces, so Lilina went to debrief them. "Celica, are you alright?" she asked her sister.

"Yeah, just not feeling too heroic right now," the girl admitted as she set her spear next to a log by the fire that Oliver was building. "That was a lot rougher than I thought it would be."

"What happened?" Lilina asked, slightly alarmed by her dispirited appearance.

"The parents were total scum wads," Mako muttered sourly as he sat by Celica. "Honestly, if not for the fact that there are several other kids missing under similar circumstances, I'd have said that this kid just ran away. We had the town watch arrest the parents on multiple counts of neglect and attempted assault."

"Who did they attack?" Lilina asked, her eyes wide. "Surely not…"

"They didn't hurt either of us, we're fine," Mako said quickly. "They were drunk- _very_ drunk. They were more likely to hurt themselves than us. But if a kid was around that all the time…"

"When we recover this kid, we need to find her a good home," Celica said as she clenched her fists tightly. "We can't just take her back to that house- there's nothing left for her there."

"Perhaps Sir Libra's orphanage?" Oliver suggested. "The children there seem quite happy whenever I've visited."

"That's a good idea," Kiara said as she approached. "I'll send word by messenger pigeon for him to expect a newcomer in a few weeks."

"I'd hold off on that, at least until we visit the next town," Mako said before she could add anything else. "If these kids are being kidnapped like we suspect, then it would stand to reason that bandits would target kids like this Elaine girl. If that's the case, we're looking at over two-dozen abused children that will need a new home."

"You don't know that they're all like that," Oliver said with a frown. "It's too early to draw any conclusions."

"Which is why I want to hold off on Kiara's message until we have more information," Mako explained. "Let's establish a pattern, then send word."

"That's speaking my language," Gilbert said as he and Altman strode into camp. "What did we miss?"

"The parents were no help, pretty sure the girl would have run away if she had the chance," Kiara summarized.

"Yeah, that sounds right," Altman nodded as he sat on another log, idly scratching his back as he did. "The only thing we could seem to get outta the locals is that the Thompsons are no-good drunks that live on his dead father's pension."

"Dead father?" Lilina inquired.

"Yeah, the man's dad was one of the men that went to war in Valm under Grandpa Robin's command," the healer replied. "He died in the battle for Fort Steiger." After the war against Valm, Chrom implemented a law that saw some tax money returned to families that had lost their men and women to the conflicts. It wasn't a great amount for those families, but he hoped that it would make their lives a little easier as they tried to get by without their loved ones.

"Sounds like his son never recovered from that," Oliver muttered quietly.

Mako frowned, looking sharply over at his friend as he asked, "Are you trying to defend that man?"

"No, just empathizing," the swordsman said with a negative shake of his head. "I'm not saying that the Thompsons have made any good life choices, but I can't imagine what it must be like to lose your father to a war you never wanted in the first place. It seems like even though the world is at peace, there are those that have not come to terms with what has been taken from them."

"I suppose…" Mako murmured, his mind flashing with images of another young Spriggan with dark wings, sword bloodied and a bestial smile on his face.

"Something on your mind, Mako?" Gilbert asked his cousin, and not unkindly.

The black-garbed warrior gave him a strained smile and replied, "Nothing important, Gil. Just some nightmares that keep bothering me."

The other boy raised an eyebrow but did not comment on the matter any further. Instead, he turned to Lilina and said, "I notice that Yinne is absent from our numbers. Has he gone off somewhere?"

"He's plan B," Kiara answered with a grin. "He and Teela are headed to the town to check out the house after dark."

"Why after dark?" Mako inquired.

"There's less people around to confuse his nose than during the day," Lilina answered. "Apparently the last place Elaine was seen was at her house, so if he can scent the people that took her, we might be able to establish a trail from there. Either way, they'll report back here once they've finished investigating her house and the area around the town walls."

"I don't like that you let my boyfriend go off without me," said a new voice, its owner striding up to the group around the campfire with an annoyed expression on their face. "Especially with another girl."

"Relax, Minerva," Kiara said with another bright grin as she turned to face the daughter of Princess Cynthia and Sir Gerome. "I couldn't exactly send you along with him, seeing as you were in the middle of patrol duty."

The other girl scowled, her dark blue eyes narrowing while her arms crossed as she muttered, "I wouldn't have volunteered if I knew you had plans for him. You know how he gets nervous in the field!" Like her mother, she was a shorter woman, slender in build, though her reddish-brown hair was reminiscent of her father and grandfather.

"Yinne is a Shepherd, and he will need to face his share of dangers along the way," Oliver said, keeping his tone reasonable. "You and Pina can't be there to bail him out of trouble every time, you know."

"Besides, I hardly think that a giant Wyvern would be very accommodating on a trip to a small town like that one," Altman pointed out.

"Do you want to find out just how unaccommodating she can be?" Minerva asked threateningly as she turned to face the weedy healer. Like her father, and grandmother before her, she rode a wyvern into battle, and held a connection with her mount equivalent to that of a pegasus and its knight. Her familiar in particular had originally been friends with Lady Silica, one of Sir Kirito's old friends, but had been forced to remain behind in Ylisse while the girl went back to her home world.

"I hardly think that a Wyvern Pina's size would get much of a meal out of Altman," Gilbert said as he opened up a new book he had apparently purchased while in town.

"Much as I want to be mad at that, he's right," the young man muttered. "I ain't exactly the biggest source of protein around."

"She can always use a toothpick," Minerva replied with a cold smile.

"Enough," Kiara said sternly. For a moment, she wondered how her aunt and grandfather had handled so many different personalities to form such effective groups during the early days of the Shepherds.

"Yinne will be fine," Lilina said confidently. "Even if he tends to shy away from combat, Teela has no issues with it."

"Also, there's the whole 'turning into a fire-breathing dragon' bit she has going on," Gilbert said absently, engrossed his book. "I'm sure they'll be fine. There isn't a lot that a manakete can't handle."

* * *

Later that night, Kiara found herself pacing beside the dying embers of the fire. The Shepherds at the camp had made and consumed their dinners, talked among themselves, sparred a little bit, then turned in for the night, with the exception of the Tactician, and the two members on night patrol, Elizabeth and Odin.

 _They should have come back half an hour ago,_ the girl thought nervously. _Auntie says to give them an hour in situations like this, but something just doesn't feel right to me… I hope they're all right._

"Damn it all!"

The sudden shout startled Kiara enough so that she jumped about fifteen feet off the ground and stayed there with her sword drawn, hovering on her Undine wings. It wasn't until the initial surprise wore off that she looked down to see a pale figure dressed in black stomping out of one of the tents, something gripped tightly in both of their hands.

 _Mako?_ She wondered as she quietly sheathed her sword. _What is he doing up so late? His shift isn't until the pre-dawn._

Even as she watched, the Spriggan boy stalked over to the remains of the fire, snatched up a rod that they had used to stir up the flames earlier, and began poking at the coals, apparently trying to get a fire going again. She began to descend quietly, hoping to get a better look at what it was that he was doing. So far the only thing that seemed clear was that he was upset, or angry.

In the hand not currently stabbing at the coals with some measure of aggression was a small, leather bound notebook. _Is he going to burn that?_ She thought. She supposed that if he wanted to dispose of his own property, then what he was doing was none of her business. Yet of course, as all humans would be in her situation, she was curious, which wound up getting the best of her.

"What's that?" she asked quietly.

" _Augh!_ " the boy yelped spinning around so fast it was a wonder his head didn't fly off. "Kiara!" he gasped, clutching the book to his chest. "Don't do that- you scared ten years off of me!"

"Sorry, that wasn't my intention," she said, making a point of keeping her voice lowered. "To be fair, though, your shouting did the same thing to me a moment ago."

"Oh, well… sorry about that," he muttered sheepishly. "I was just, ah… Nightmare again."

"Ah," she replied noncommittally. Then she couldn't help but add, "I know it's probably not my business, but I don't think the normal response to a nightmare is to burn a diary, is it?"

"It is when said diary keeps track of the nightmares," Mako replied tiredly as he returned to stoking the remnants of the fire. "I've been writing down what I see each night, hoping to gain some meaning from the dark dreams that I see, but all it seems to do is make them worse. The more I've written, the more evil the nature of the dreams become. So I'm burning this thing."

"When did you start having nightmares so consistently?" Kiara asked him, concerned.

"About a month ago, after our team won the tournament," he answered with only a moment's hesitation. "I… made a mistake."

"Mistake?" she repeated, moving to crouch beside him. "Mako, what are you talking about?"

"You know me, I always need a little time to myself after a big social gathering," Mako replied as he finally got some of the coals to give birth to a flame. "I went up to the roof to be alone with my thoughts, mostly to think about the future that we would lead as the next generation of Shepherds… which led to me wondering about my own future self."

"Sir Mataras," Kiara nodded. "Have you been dreaming about the life he must have endured in the future? You know that can't happen to us- Grima is gone in this timeline."

"That's part of it," Mako admitted. "But that's not really what's been disturbing me. See, your father found me on the roof, and we wound up talking about my future self at great length. He told me everything he could about Mataras… about the kind of man he really was."

"He was a hero who gave his life to secure our future," Kiara replied with a frown. "It's what is recorded in our nation's history. Why is that so troubling?" A new thought occurred to her, and she added, "Do you fear dying like he did?"

"No, I fear to live as he did," the young man answered, a haunted look coming over his face. "Sir Marth told me about many terrible things that he did in order to exact his revenge on Grima… Did you know that he nearly killed my father just to prove a point when they first met?"

Kiara's eyes were wide with surprise now. "Why would you-? I mean, why would he…?"

"And that right there is my problem," Mako said with a weak chuckle. "Everyone else whose future self came back did so for selfless reasons. All I did in the future was seek out carnage and violence against the one that had hurt me."

"Mako, wait, I didn't mean-"

"That's where the nightmares are coming from, Kiara," the black-garbed swordsman interrupted. "Ever since I learned the truth about Mataras, I see myself becoming him. I know it's nonsensical, but I can't help but feel that the possibility of _him_ exists within me. And that terrifies me." He was breathing hard now, his body trembling in fear.

"Mako," Kiara said firmly, placing her hand on his shaking fist, the one clenching the notebook. "You won't become a monster like that, I promise." She kept her grip in place until the tremors in his arm eased.

The contact and words were not born of passion or romance, but of genuine concern for her old friend. So when the young man managed to regulate his breathing and nodded that he was alright, she withdrew from the contact without complaint.

Without another word, he tossed the notebook into the low flames that he had managed to work up, watching silently until the orange lights had begun to consume his nightmares. "Thank you," he said softly, to which Kiara merely nodded in acknowledgement.

Mako looked as though he was about to say something when there was the sound of an explosion from the direction of the village he had visited earlier that day. Both young warriors turned to see a large green light sail upwards and explode, though with less sound than the previous blast. Beneath the fading firelight, they could see a dark cloud of smoke roiling, even against the night sky.

"That can't be good," Mako muttered as he stood up and looked at his commanding officer. "Orders?"

"Rouse the others, get them ready for battle," Kiara replied tightly, checking to make sure that she had her sword and her spell book in their proper places. "Looks like plan B is a bust."

"You said something about plan C," Mako said as he began to head for Gilbert's tent. "I'm going to assume that this is when the rest of us get to learn about and use it?"

Kiara looked him dead in the eyes as she answered, "Plan C is rush whoever happens to be responsible for B going wrong, and hope for a plan D."

* * *

Elsewhere, on another ridge overlooking the port town, a pair of dark eyes scanned the scene below them. "Tch," their owner spat. "They've bungled it."

"Should we send in our reinforcements?" another person asked the first speaker. "We can be there in less than ten minutes."

"If they can't get themselves out of the mess they got themselves into, then I have no use for them," the first speaker said coldly. "All they can do in that case is offer up their souls in order to provide me with a meal that will hold me over until the next ritual."

"Does the time draw near then, my lord?" the second speaker asked, not daring to press the matter of reinforcements.

"It does," the first speaker grinned. "Have you the numbers I requested?"

"We do," their servant replied dutifully. "Young and full of potential, all of them. I think you'll find them to your liking, my lord."

"Good…" the first man muttered.

When he remained silent, the servant asked, "My lord, if I have curried enough favor with you, I would ask a question…?"

"I permit you to breathe in my presence, yet you ask for more?" the first speaker asked, his voice neither threatening nor ominous. "How very bold… and amusing. Very well, speak your inquiry."

"I wish to know why we came back here, when this child was taken nearly two months ago, my lord," the servant replied. "Surely it was a fluke, them investigating-"

"In my world, there is no such thing as a fluke, coincidence, or luck," the first man said, cutting off his servant. "All things happen as they must, and I will act accordingly. But if it will satisfy your feeble curiosity, I knew that our work would not go unnoticed forever, and this village is the closest to the Ylissean capital, making it the most likely to be investigated by the Shepherds first."

"But my lord, why the Shepherds?" the second speaker asked. "Surely the rank-and-file town guards could investigate this matter?"

"They could, but they wouldn't get nearly as much done as those odd people," the master replied. "And if I'm showing my hand, then of course that wench Naga would see to it that I am met with her own hand. But on a more pressing note…" Without changing the tone of his voice or showing any outward signs of emotion, the first speaker stabbed his servant through the heart with his bare hand, killing him instantly. "…I only agreed to suffer one question, you ungrateful swine."

He held the body in place long enough to absorb his soul before it could pass on into the next world, before letting the corpse drop. Shaking his hand to fling off the blood and bits of bone stuck to the appendage, he muttered to himself, "Now, then, Robin, Kirito… Let's see if peace in this world has softened you up at all?"

* * *

 **Kirito: It's good to be back! ...Kind of.**

 **Mataras: Agreed. I'm very much looking forward to how our audience reacts with every step of this journey.**

 **Asuna: Speaking of, how long will this journey be?**

 **Mataras: Oh, I dunno exactly, yet... Maybe twelve chapters or so?**

 **Kirito: Only twelve chapters?!**

 **Mataras: Hey, cut me some slack! These chapters are quite a bit longer than the pieces I put together for your adventure!**

 **Asuna: Aren't you worried that might not be enough of a story for your readers?**

 **Mataras: I said maybe twelve! I'm uncommitted as of yet! Besides, if they feel like that's too short, or I'm taking too long, this isn't the only sequel to the original Fire Sword!**

 **Kirito: Huh?**

 **Mataras: Go check out Fire Sword Fated Incursion, written by N-Sight, if you wanna know what happens if Yuuki, Aiko, and Sinon join Owain, Inigo, and Severa in the games of Fire Emblem Fates. I have enjoyed the story thus far, and recommend it to anyone that enjoyed the original story.**

 **Asuna: Okay, at least there's that. But when can we expect a new chapter from you?**

 **Mataras: Probably around late January. I'm already working on the next chapter, so I'll even throw in a preview for you.**

 **Kirito: Next time on Shrouded Destiny- An Unlikely Return**

* * *

"How did they find you?" Kiara asked as Brian began to work with his staff to repair the wound.

"I picked up on one of their scouts with my hearing when we reached the outskirts of town," Yinne answered. "Teela helped me sniff 'em out after that. When we got closer, I could hear them talking about some sacrifice their boss has planned. They're going to use the kids they've taken from villages around here, Kiara."

The young tactician paled rapidly as his words sank in. "So the children are being kidnapped," she murmured.

"But not for slavery," Lilina added, her own features an unhealthy shade of white. "Did you learn what manner of sacrifice is being planned? It's not…" A word sprang to her throat, but she could not seem to get her lips to form the words that had formed in her mind.

Yinne's ears drooped and his face appeared haggard and worn as he nodded, saying, "Yes, it's them. These guys work for the Grimleal."


	2. An Unlikely Return

**A/N: Hello everyone, it's the first weekend of the month, which means I've got a new chapter out for you!**

 **Last time, the village was set on fire, Mako is having some sleep issues, and he's got a princess and a tactician wanting his attention! How could one possibly top that craziness? Read this chapter and find out! Also, be sure to leave a review with your thoughts!**

 **P.S. Those that have subscribed to my YouTube channel get access to the new releases of this story a week early, so... go to Not Your Average Productions and get early access, in addition to the audio series of the original Fire Sword!**

* * *

An Unlikely Return

"How did our first mission go this wrong?! This was just supposed to be a scouting trip!" Kiara, the acting tactician for the Ylissean Shepherds shouted as she and her comrades rushed toward a town they had visited earlier in the day, part of which was going up in flames. "The fighting wasn't supposed to happen for at least another week!"

"If something can go wrong, it usually does!" Mako replied, flying through the air beside his leader on black Spriggan wings.

"Wisdom from Sir Kirito?" Lilina, the crown princess of the realm, asked as she ran below them.

"Actually, your counterpart," the winged boy replied grimly. Looking back at the town, he demanded of no one in particular, "Why is _everything_ on fire?!"

"Not everything, maybe a quarter of the establishments," quipped his cousin, a green-winged Sylph named Gilbert.

"Semantics!"

"Celica, you, Gil, and Altman need to go see if there are any wounded in the town," Kiara ordered. "Rescue them from the blazes and keep any bandits away from the survivors, got it?"

"You got it!" the young pegasus knight acknowledged with a grinning salute, despite the grim circumstances. It was clear that she was looking forward to finally enacting in deeds that could only be called heroic. Rolling their eyes, Gilbert and Altman broke away from the main group and followed her toward the fires, while the rest of the young Shepherds continued on a path toward where they had seen Teela's signal fire from before, just north of the town.

"What do you think happened?" Mako asked Kiara as they zoomed toward the forest that bordered the town. "Did we cause this?"

"Could be an unrelated bandit raid, but somehow I doubt it," Kiara replied tightly. "In this line of work, we can't believe in coincidence."

"So what, we go in assuming that we're dealing with a criminal mastermind that orchestrated the abductions of dozens of kids?" Mako inquired.

"If we assume the worst, and then it doesn't happen, at least we aren't surprised," Lilina called up. "On the other hand, if we go in expecting some ragged thieves, but encounter well-trained mercenaries, well, then…"

"I get it," Mako said dryly. "Well, best case is if these guys _are_ involved with the kidnappings, maybe we can find something out about where they took the kids."

"Good idea," Kiara grinned. Raising her voice, she called out, "Avoid casualties if possible, Shepherds! We need some of 'em alive for questioning!"

"Now where's the fun in that?!" Kerry called up from her horse.

Despite her apparent protest, the girls knew that she would follow orders- both of her parents were exemplary knights, and they had ingrained their selfsame sense of discipline and honor in their daughter. She would carry out her task dutifully, even if it wasn't her first choice.

"Hark, I shall endeavor to restrain mine sword hand in order to preserve the lives we set ourselves against!" Odin crowed, raising his outstretched hand unto the sky.

"Better do it fast, cos there they are!" Elizabeth snapped as she pointed at a group of men that had surrounded a struggling figure.

"They've got Yinne!" Minerva cried, her normally stern expression strained with terror as they came close enough to see the half-taguel in his animal form, defending an unconscious Teela from the thugs that had surrounded them.

"Not yet they don't!" Ignacio bellowed, showing a surprising amount of courage as he rushed forward to be the first one to engage the surprised bandits. "Get off our friend, you cowardly cheek-biters!" He barreled into the nearest man before he had a chance to turn and get his weapon up, knocking him down, then running him through the leg with his sword.

Then it was a bloodbath, the highly trained young warriors taking their friends' assailants by surprise with their skill and ferocity. Less than a minute later, the men surrounding Yinne and Teela were dead or running away.

"Mako, Oliver, don't let them reach their friends!" Kiara ordered. The two of them took off after a trio of men that had managed to escape the violent skirmish, swords naked in hand.

"Took you guys long enough!" Yinne muttered before transforming into his humanoid form. "I was almost-"

"Yinne!" Minerva shouted, leaping off of Pina and throwing her arms around the young man, causing him to yelp with surprise and possibly pain. "You're okay!"

"I… won't be… if you don't leggo!" he gasped. When she took a half-step back, he heaved in a huge lungful of air before groaning, "Oh… If my ribs weren't broken before, they definitely are now…"

"Brian?" Lilina asked their healer, who was currently examining Teela. The little girl was unconscious beneath the bough of an old tree, but apparently she was in no mortal danger, for the young mage moved away from her with a small grunt and a nod.

"What'd they get you with?" he asked as he not-so-gently shoved Minerva aside, earning him a rough glare from the girl, but she did not return the gesture or otherwise interfere with his work.

"A war hammer," the half-taguel hissed as his comrade inspected damage done to his chest. "I caught it trying to save Teela from a spear that she took in the shoulder. I got lucky, I suppose- wound up knocking the thing away from her head, which is what they were aiming for."

"How did they find you?" Kiara asked as Brian began to work with his staff to repair the wound.

"I picked up on one of their scouts with my hearing when we reached the outskirts of town," Yinne answered. "Teela helped me sniff 'em out after that. When we got closer, I could hear them talking about some sacrifice their boss has planned. They're going to use the kids they've taken from villages around here, Kiara."

The young tactician paled rapidly as his words sank in. "So the children are being kidnapped," she murmured.

"But not for slavery," Lilina added, her own features an unhealthy shade of white. "Did you learn what manner of sacrifice is being planned? It's not…" A word sprang to her throat, but she could not seem to get her lips to form the words that had formed in her mind.

Yinne's ears drooped and his face appeared haggard and worn as he nodded, saying, "Yes, it's them. These guys work for the Grimleal."

A stunned silence gripped the entire group. "That's…" Kiara wanted to say 'impossible', but she knew her history. Try though they might, the Shepherds and the people of Plegia were never able to account for every leader that had been a part of that foul cult. Some half-dozen men loyal to Grima were still at large, even to this day, and it was a common practice of theirs to sacrifice young maidens to their dark dragon.

"I thought our parents wiped those scum out!" Elizabeth protested, echoing her leader's thoughts. "They don't have the power to do this kind of thing anymore!"

"Unfortunately, the Grimleal have proven themselves to be more resilient than a cockroach infestation," Ignacio said grimly, his usual good humor and charm nowhere to be seen. "My father did his best, but not everyone followed the ideals of Validar and his forbearers out of fear. Some were willing participants in Grima's ascent, madness though it was."

"They can't possibly think to bring back the Fell Dragon again with a sacrifice, can they?" Kerry scoffed. "Lord Marth and Lady Morgan struck him down in such a way that he can never be revived, or so the story goes… Could they have made a mistake?"

"No," Kiara said with a negative shake of her head. "My father and aunt killed him forever. Grima will not return. But it is possible that these sycophants refuse to accept that fact, and are trying to bring him back anyway."

"That's what it sounded like to me," Yinne nodded. "In any case, we both got too distracted with listening in on one pair of these psychos, and before we knew it, we were under attack from a dozen of 'em." His chest was almost completely healed now, and he nodded his thanks to Brian, who gave him a tight grin in response.

"I can hardly blame you," Kiara muttered distractedly. "If I had heard someone planning to resurrect that _thing_ again, I probably would have been too disturbed to take proper note of my surroundings."

"Do you have any idea how many more of them there are in these woods?" Lilina asked their scout.

"Not really, but I never saw more than a dozen of them at a time," Yinne admitted. "I did hear some of them calling for their comrades to burn the village, though. For a place that size, I'd say they'd need at least ten more to get the fires spreading properly, twenty if they accounted for trouble."

Kiara and Lilina exchanged a worried look. If there were bandits still at the village, Celica and the others would be in grave danger, especially if there were twenty pirates running about. Three Shepherds and whatever remained of the town's watchmen would not be enough if that were the case.

"Lilina, go back to the village with Odin, Ignacio, Liz, Minerva, and Kerry," Kiara ordered. "We need to make sure that the villagers and our own are safe. Brian, Yinne and I will stay here until Teela recovers."

Lilina went to obey, then hesitated, asking, "What about the boys?"

"We'll send them your way once they come back," Kiara said as she made an impatient gesture towards the glow of the flames that could be seen, even through the woods. "Now get going!"

The princess nodded and began to run in that direction, calling for the others to follow. Only Minerva did not obey, planting herself next to Yinne, saying, "I'm staying here."

"After them, Minerva," Kiara snapped. "Go with Lilina and follow her orders when you catch up with them. This is a battlefield- I don't have the time or resources to indulge you in your childish concerns."

Brian sidled away from them and made a show of working on Teela's injuries as they stared each other down.

The wyvern rider reddened and opened her mouth to retort, but her commanding officer cut her off in a dangerously low voice, saying, "That wasn't a request, or a suggestion."

Yinne, despite looking very uncomfortable, nudged his girlfriend's arm and muttered, "You should go. Don't get into trouble because you're worried about me."

She shot him a baleful look, then stomped over to where Pina was waiting. As she swung up into the saddle, she growled just loud enough for Kiara to hear, "I have some choice words for you later, Kiara."

"So long as I don't have to court-martial you for disobeying my orders on the field, I'll be happy to hear them later," the blue-haired tactician replied. With a thunderous roar, the wyvern took to the night air, her rider's face an angry mask. Suddenly, Yinne felt a small measure of sympathy for any bandits that came across her path.

 _Naga have mercy on them…_

"Are you sure Mako and Oliver will be alright?" Brian asked, interrupting the awkward silence that had fallen over the group. "There could be more of them out there."

"They're two of our best fighters," Kiara said, trying to reassure herself as much as him. "If they can't handle three cutthroats, then they might need to consider a different line of work."

"Even the best fighters can be brought down by bad luck, you know?" Yinne murmured, rubbing his abdomen unconsciously, as if his flesh had not forgotten the wounds it had received earlier.

Kiara wanted to yell at him to shut up, but she held her temper in check in favor of a prayer to the gods and her ancestors that the man of her affections and her cousin would both be returned to her safely.

* * *

As it turned out, dispatching the three bandits was less difficult than it was time-consuming. As a Spriggan, Mako had excellent night vision, and could easily make his way around in the dark, even while flying at high speeds. His comrade, who was a human on foot, could not. He had to guide Oliver through the dense forest and hope that his friend didn't trip on a rock or a loose branch, or some other such obstacle while trying to gain on their quarry.

Mako considered flying ahead and trying to take the three men on himself, but decided against it. If something were to go wrong, Oliver might not be able to find him in time to prevent a disaster from happening. It would take them longer to catch the men, but at least they would be winded by the time they caught up, and if swords failed, he could pick them off with magic.

The only upside was that this trio didn't seem very bright- they had remained bunched together instead of splitting up in order to divide their search party. _Maybe they'll take us to the leader of their sorry crew, and we can take him out, or better yet, get him to tell us where they're keeping the kids they kidnapped,_ he thought as they vaulted a fallen tree.

"You want to blast them with magic?" Oliver asked as they resumed their running.

"I would, but a lot of these trees could fall on us as easy as them," Mako answered. "It's dark out, which means my magic is gonna be a lot stronger than it is during the day. Full moon, too, which just adds to my power." His father and mother had always stressed the importance of keeping his wings exposed regularly to moon and sunlight, which would not only keep them healthy, it would augment his magical abilities. His natural element was darkness, which meant that a densely wooded area under the glow of a full moon would put his powers at their peak. That also meant that he could unleash more powerful magics than he was used to, which could result in the injury of himself or others if he wasn't careful.

Before they could argue any further on the topic, they heard a trio of strangled cries from up ahead, and the sound of three bodies hitting the forest floor. Alarmed, they redoubled their pace and soon burst into a small clearing perhaps a hundred paces across, where they found three bodies soaking the earth with the sap from their limbs, and a dark figure bending over the furthest of the corpses.

Mako and Oliver both immediately raised their blades to point at the figure, who ignored them. Something about his presence felt wrong to the boys, as if getting too close to him would make them unclean.

Without looking at them, the stranger stood, his back to them, and said, "Put those down before you hurt yourselves. Besides, is that any way to thank the man that saved you the effort of disposing of these… wastrels?" The voice was rough and haggard, as if the speaker were suddenly about to break down in a coughing fit.

"If we are to thank you, mayhap we should know your name as to address you properly?" Oliver asked, making no effort to hide his sarcasm.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," the stranger chuckled darkly, his voice grating on their nerves. "I was hoping to draw out the Black Swordsman and the Fellblood Avatar. Instead I get their pups. …Disappointing, but I suppose I'll just have to try harder next time."

"If you're behind the disappearance of those kids and the burning of this village, there won't be a next time," Mako said crossly. "You're going one of two places, a jail cell or a graveyard. You increase your chances of living if you come quietly."

"We may not be Robin and Sir Kirito, but we can give you a pretty good idea of how they handled things in their glory days," Oliver added.

The man before them laughed, the sound a horrible mixture of merriment and apparent pain. "So this is the result of a peaceful time?" He spoke to the sky as if mocking the heavens, once again ignoring the young Shepherds, who bristled with indignation. "I find myself rather underwhelmed. Given that I have not found what I sought this evening, perhaps I should vent my frustrations sooner rather than later…" He turned his head to the side ever so slightly, just enough for the pair of warriors to glimpse his profile; a strong jaw and long, dark hair. "Then again, revenge is a dish best served cool, no? Hmm… What to do, what to do…?"

"Last chance to have a name carved on your gravestone!" Oliver snapped impatiently. "Otherwise your epitaph will simply read, 'Another Grim Ghoul, Gone!"

"You speak as though alliteration makes you clever," the man snorted. "I think I'll satisfy your curiosity, young man, if only to set my revenge in motion. Do try to remember what your father's faces look like when you tell them who has come for them? I was planning on savoring the sight myself, but I'm now more curious as to what faces two will wear as I step into the moonlight…?"

Without warning, Mako hurled a blast of dark energy at their foe that would sever his left arm at the shoulder. Oliver re-gripped his sword, ready to move the instant that the limb hit the ground.

Only, the energy didn't connect. At least, not in the way it was supposed to.

Instead of relieving the stranger of his arm, the energy simply wrapped itself around the limb, then shrank and coalesced into a ball that hovered above his waiting palm. A prickle of horror ran down their spines as he laughed again, tossing the energy into the air and catching it like a child would a ball or a piece of fruit.

"You think darkness is you ally?" the man chortled. "No, no… It betrays you as the ocean betrays seafarers that think themselves its master in the form of a storm that tears their vessel asunder. I _am_ the dark, boys, and no shadow will help you so long as I command them. And before you think to put steel in me, I would advise you not to cross blades with those that have gone before you."

"Am I the only one getting sick of these riddles?!" Oliver snapped.

"Be careful," Mako warned him, a little more even-tempered. "I've never see anyone capable of controlling another person's magic, much less dark magic spells…"

"Good thing I've had years to perfect this little trick of mine," the stranger laughed yet again turning to reveal more of his face as the moonlight broke through a cluster of clouds. The pale lighting revealed an equally pale face framed by black hair and thick eyebrows. Then he turned around completely, and both boys felt nearly all the blood drain from their faces.

"What devilry…?" Oliver croaked. Mako could not even speak, only work his jaw up and down without any words managing to make it past his teeth.

Black Spriggan wings. A wiry frame. Mad, obsidian eyes set above a large nose and a grim mouth. A single onyx blade matching the one that Mako carried, the one given to him by his father when he had come of age could be seen in his right hand.

"You asked my name, and now I give it," Mako's doppelganger said with a cruel smile. "I am Mataras, otherwise known as the Black Spirit. Do tell my father and mother I said hello." With that, he cast the dark orb that he had been holding at the pair of them.

Too startled to react in time, the boys were flung back by a brutal force of black energy, just barely managing to remain conscious as they watched Mataras fly off into the starry sky, like a black comet hurtling back into the heavens from whence it came.

When Oliver was able to speak, he looked dumbly at Mako and asked, "So… what are the odds that you have an evil twin that your parents never told you about?"

"I…" Mako could only shake his head in confusion. He felt as though the earth was spinning wildly beneath him, and it wasn't just from the impact of the explosion. "I don't…" He couldn't seem to force out the question that was desperately trying to escape his mouth: _I don't understand! How could he have survived?!_

* * *

It wasn't until the dawn began to break that the two of them managed to make it back to the others. The fires and the bandits causing them had been dealt with, with some of the brigands now sitting in chains, awaiting Kiara's verdict. The girl herself was pacing back and forth between a pair of trees while the healers worked on their wounded when Mako and Oliver stumbled out of the forest, exhausted, aching, and still in shock from what they had seen.

"Ollie!" Kiara cried as she spotted them, sheer relief causing her to use her cousin's nickname from when they had been children. "Mako! I was so worried; thank the gods you're alright!" She flung her arms around the both of them, nearly knocking them over as she seized them in a tight embrace.

"Not very professional," Elizabeth sniggered. Kiara ignored her.

When the two boys did not respond, she pulled back to look at them and ask, "You…? You aren't wounded, are you?"

"Physically, we only have some scrapes and bruises," Oliver answered, Mako remaining a silent, hollow-eyed mask. "Up here, though?" He pointed to his head and shook it slowly. "That'll take some time to mend."

"What happened out there?" Lilina asked as she approached the trio. "I was just about to lead a search party, you were gone so long."

Oliver looked a question at Mako, who could only shrug blankly. Taking that as approval to continue, the grandson of Robin said, "We found the person we believe to be responsible for the attacks and kidnappings. We saw… It was… It will sound mad, but I swear to all the gods above and below that we do not lie."

"Out with it!" Lilina insisted impatiently.

"The leader of the bandits was Mataras," Oliver said flatly. "The Black Spirit."

A deafening silence fell across the clearing. All eyes turned to the pair of them in that moment, but no sound was uttered. So complete was the silence that one could hear the burnt flesh in Celica's leg being knit back together under the light of a healing staff.

At long last, Kerry spoke, letting out an overly loud guffaw that showed just how nervous she really was. "You gotta be kidding me," she snorted, trying to appear indifferent. "You're gonna try and cover for the fact that you got lost in the woods by blaming a guy that's dead?" The other Shepherds shot her disapproving looks, but none of them appeared as though they believed Oliver's words, either.

Mako visibly flinched, but remained taciturn. Oliver, however, took exception to the insult. "Does this seem like the kind of thing we would jest about?!" he demanded angrily, only to be restrained by his cousin.

"Oliver, what you say does sound mad, but I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt," she said calmly. "Her comment is not entirely unwarranted- I don't want to believe it myself. However, you're never been a dishonest man, and I see no reason for you to lie about something like this."

"Do you believe me?" he asked her, looking straight into the dark blue eyes that matched his own.

"I believe you saw something or someone that wanted you to believe it was Mataras," Kiara said carefully. "I don't doubt your word, but I don't see how it could possibly be-"

"It was him." Mako's declaration surprised everyone, but he ignored their stares in favor of slumping against a tree and fixing his vacant eyes on his hands. "I tried to cast a Rend spell on him… He just caught it like it was no more than a toy and sent it back at us."

"No one else knew how to redirect magic like that," Oliver pointed out.

"What one man has done, another can always replicate," Lilina countered. She also looked doubtful of their claim, but she was polite enough not to say it out loud.

"He flew away on Spriggan wings," the swordsman retorted. "Only two people we know of can do that." That gave the princess pause, but she still looked doubtful.

"Einherjar?" she tried.

"Not likely, he seemed very much self-aware."

"It was really him," Mako repeated, his voice low and dull. "It wasn't just his skill or his wings… The way he looked, it was as though… someone had taken my face, and… used it as a canvas, with pain and rage the primary paints to… alter it." The words were spoken haltingly, and he seemed to spit each one out as if it were a piece of rancid meat.

"Look, you two seem to be ignoring the fact that Mataras _died_ ," Elizabeth huffed. "Pardon my blunt speech, but Grima skewered him like a fish! There's no way it could be him- not unless he crawled out of his own grave!"

"Even Naga cannot bring the dead back to life once they have passed from this realm," Gilbert said quietly. "And this does not sound like the work of the Divine Dragon. It might be possible that someone infiltrated your mind and forced you to see things that were not there, much like Validar did with Robin."

"Speaking of Robin…" Kiara murmured. "I think we had best get help from some of the older Shepherds. Whether Mataras somehow survived, was resurrected, or is some sort of impersonator of the real man, we've clearly stepped into something that's way out of our league. We set out to bring home missing children, maybe deal with some slavers. We were not cleared to take on Grimleal remnants or ghosts."

"Grimleal?" Oliver repeated.

"I'll explain later," his cousin replied. "Right now, we need to haul it back to Ylisstol and-"

"No!" The short word was drawn out of Mako as he shot to his feet with a wild look in his eyes. "We can't ask for help, especially not from Sir Robin or my father!"

"Mako, this isn't a matter of our pride, it's-"

"I'm well aware that we are out of our depth!" he interrupted the tactician, slashing an arm through the air to punctuate his words. "But whoever or whatever confronted us last night made it clear that your grandfather and my father are his targets! If we get them involved, we'll end up giving him exactly what he wants!" After a brief pause, he added in a lower voice, "And whoever this is, we cannot give him what he seeks."

Another tense silence fell among the trees as they considered the implications of what he had just said. "So if we are to thwart this new threat…" Lilina murmured, paling slightly.

"We will have to do it on our own," Kiara concluded glumly.

"Our parents were not able to rely upon an older generation for help when they began their crusade against Plegia, Valm, or Grima himself," Oliver stated firmly. "Why then, should we seek out a crutch when fate presents us with a problem like this one? Are we not Shepherds in our own right?"

His words seemed to stir some life back into the others, for several of them looked at him and the girls that led them with new determination in their eyes where only confusion and fear had been. "Ollie is right," Celica declared. "We're Shepherds, and it's about time we prove that to everyone, ourselves included."

"What a legend this will be, that we the sons and daughters of the greatest heroes to ever live should cleanse the land of the final remnants of the Fell Dragon's foul influence forevermore!" Odin grinned broadly as he stood up and raised his fist to the sky.

"Regardless of the origins of this man or creature that has made himself known, we do still have other goals that we can and should focus on," Gilbert said, his emerald wings buzzing slightly. "There are children that are in need of a rescue, and I would be remiss if we did not see to their safety."

"Gil is right," Kiara nodded, straightening her shoulders, despite her weariness. "The appearance of this Mataras, be he real or a pretender, should not affect our current goal. Celica managed to capture two of the bandits alive, and they are being held in the stocks of the village even now. I suggest we go and have a talk with them before the villagers have them hang for their crimes."

"The villagers," Oliver repeated, as if just remembering that they had been attacked. "Are they all right? Was everyone able to escape the fire?"

A sad expression fell over Lilina's features as she said, "No one was killed by the flames, though there were some burns bad enough that Altman had to tend to them. Unfortunately, three of the watch members were killed by the Grimleal dastards during the fighting."

Oliver's eyes clouded with pain briefly, and he closed them, murmuring, "Then we will fight to avenge them when we next encounter these monsters." Several of the other Shepherds muttered an agreement.

"All right then, Elizabeth and Kerry, you two come with me," Kiara ordered as she faced the village again. "Everyone else, get back to camp and get some shuteye. We shouldn't take too long."

"What are we doing?" Kerry asked.

"I need to get some answers out of those bandits, and you two are the most frightening in our camp toward the rougher sex," the girl said bluntly, her weariness causing her to ignore polite phrasings that came to mind. "I would also bring Minerva and Pina, but a wyvern would hardly fit into the jail… and I'm so damn tired and angry at all of this that I might actually let the flying lizard eat the fools…" Her dry words and tone surprised many of her comrades- they had rarely seen her so irritable.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, seemed delighted at the prospect of finally getting her own task for the first time since they had struck out on their own mission. "If we're doing good guard, bad guard, I call bad guard," she said with a malicious smirk.

"You wish, Red," Kerry snorted with amusement. "If anyone's gonna kick the crap out of those guys, it's gonna be me."

"Congratulations, it's your lucky day," Kiara said tersely. "I'm not really inclined toward sending in a 'good guard' right now. These psychopaths murdered three innocent people, hurt a score more, and now they've got a ghost or some other such dark magic aiding them, trying to unsettle us- and as much as I hate to admit it, it's working."

"So what are we going to do about it?" Kerry asked expectantly, her quarrel with Elizabeth forgotten.

* * *

The two bandits had been stripped down to their pants and chained to the wall of the prison with heavy iron manacles. Neither of them had said a word to their captors, despite having been beaten several times in the few hours that they had spent in captivity. Neither of them took notice when the door opened to admit a trio of figures, then immediately slammed shut again.

"Get them to talk," a young woman- little more than a girl, really- ordered as they strode toward the two thugs. "I don't really care how, just so long as they retain their sanity long enough for us to get what we need."

Nodding, the other two women strode in front of the captives, their faces inscrutable. Then, without warning, the one on the left, a muscular rider with short hair, lashed out with her boot, catching the man chained to the far wall in the nose, breaking it and knocking him out instantly. Blood dripped from his ruined face, but no one paid him any heed.

"I think he'll do, boss," said a girl with long red hair and shining red wings as she crouched in front of the other man. "Hey there," she said with a mock-sweet tone in her voice. "What's your name? Where do you get your clothes? I could do with a darker set of pants to go with one of my formal uniforms. Why'd you attack the village? Feel free to ignore the first two if you really want."

"Or else what, you'll make us beg for death?" the prisoner, a burly brute of an axman, spat at her. "We've been on the other side of this situation, love. You'll make us scream, give us some time to think about what other horrors you've got up your sleeve, then send in a friend that'll win our trust and get us to confide so that we avoid the gallows. You're wasting your time. The man we work for scares us more than anything you could ever do."

"Wow," the red-haired girl muttered. "You really do know your stuff, don't you?" When all the man did was glare at her in return, she reached out and gripped the manacle that led to his right hand. "The only thing is, you don't know _us_ ," she added as a series of runes began to swirl around her clenched fist. "You don't know how far we're willing to go to get what we want, and that is going to cost you, mister." The chains began to glow red-hot from where she grasped it, spreading slowly but surely toward the man's beefy forearm.

Despite himself, his eyes widened, and he made an involuntary jerking movement in an attempt to escape the ominous glow, but of course, he couldn't separate himself from the chain. Then he swallowed, firmed up his chin, and said, "I am already dead."

"I would argue otherwise," Elizabeth snarled, dropping all pretenses of charm. "And I can keep making my arguments for days while you hold onto your foolish belief that silence is to your betterment." The glowing heat had reached about halfway across the chain now, and it showed no signs of stopping as the girl continued to heat the iron links with her fire magic. "You should take comfort in the fact that once you are burned badly enough, your nerves will be irreparably damaged, and you will no longer feel the pain of your burns. Of course, you won't be able to use that part of your body anymore, either, but I suppose you'll have to find a silver lining in all this somewhere, no?" The scorching heat was now close enough that the bandit could feel it in his arm, and he began to sweat heavily, blood draining from his face.

"While she's doin' that," said the woman with the short hair as she approached his opposite side, "I'm going to be experimenting with some tattoo designs that I've been thinking about getting. My mother and I want a matching set, you know? But we can't really go testing it out when we've got knight business to handle, ya know? Thanks for volunteering yourself for our convenience!" With that, she drew a wicked-looking dagger from her left boot and held it close to his cheek, which to his credit, he did not flinch away from.

Instead, he fixed his eyes on Kiara, who watched him with a stone-cold expression, and said, "You know how to make your threats, I give you that. But as I said, this is a play any experienced fighter knows by heart, and your acting could do with some work."

"Then consider this an ad-lib on our part," Kiara replied flatly, causing the man to frown. "Spoiler for the end of the act, though- there is no 'good guard' coming." Then the heat reached his arm, and the bandit could not hold in a ragged scream of agony.

* * *

It was nearly noon by the time the trio of women returned to their camp to find everyone but Minerva, her steed, and Yinne on patrol. "How'd it go?" the half-taguel asked as soon as they were within talking distance.

"We got what we needed, and we saved the villagers the trouble of hanging those Grimleal dogs," Kiara said crisply, her eyes heavy. "Is there a watch set, or did you two just volunteer?"

"We volunteered for this shift," Yinne answered. "Lilina set up a schedule, and we're due to take our rest in a few minutes. Or did you want to wake the others?" Minerva merely scowled at Kiara- apparently she was still quite angry with her commanding officer for having separated her from Yinne, and for the way she had been chastised the previous evening.

Ignoring the rider's angry glaring, Kiara replied to Yinne's question, "No, let everyone rest. We'll move out in the afternoon and travel by night."

"Do we have a destination?" the young man asked with a mixture of eagerness and anxiety.

"We do," Kiara nodded. "When the sun sets, we head for the forest that bridges our world with the Outrealms."

* * *

 **Kirito: You just like finding ways to put yourself in your stories, don't you?**

 **Mataras: Yeah...**

 **Asuna: Well, I honestly doubt that many people saw that coming. Also, which of the Outrealms will they be going to?**

 **Mataras: Well, if I told you that now, why would they bother coming back to read it again?**

 **Kirito: There's a few other reasons I can think of.**

 **Mataras: Oh? Enlighten us.**

 **Kirito: There's the matter of which girl Mako will end up with, will he start to act more like his future counterpart, will they even manage to succeed in their first solo mission...? I got more.**

 **Asuna: I'd read it.**

 **Mataras: Of course you would. I put you here.**

 **Kirito: Yeah, that's because _somebody_ decided to sideline us!**

 **Mataras: Sorry, guys. Not really your story anymore. But don't worry- that doesn't mean I'm done with you yet.**

 **Asuna: ...Talk about ominous.**

 **Mataras: Next time- All's Fair**


	3. All's Fair

**A/N: Sorry I kept you waiting extra-long on this chapter, guys, events conspired against me (one of which was a _really_ painful surgery that took way too long to recover from), but I'm back now. As per the norm of this story, I've already released an audio version of it as of one week ago. If you feel so inclined, please go give it a listen, as I think it is some of my best narration to date. Although, don't get your hopes up too high, I'm no Chris Sabat when it comes to voice acting.**

 **In any case, please read, review, and most importantly, enjoy what is basically going to be a filler/support conversation chapter, with things getting really heated in terms of action next chapter.**

* * *

All's Fair

"Are we certain that this is a good idea?"

"For the hundredth time, Yinne, _no_ , I am not certain that this is a good idea," Kiara said, exasperated, her blue wings buzzing with irritation. "But it seems to be the right path to take, given the circumstances."

The Shepherds were on the march, headed for a portal to the Outrealms that had been mapped by Robin decades ago, when he went in with half of his comrades to secure an army of Einherjar. He had kept the only copy locked in his private safe, and had eventually passed it on to Morgan when she succeeded him as Grandmaster of Ylisse. Her niece, Kiara, had seen the map a few times, and had been able to mark it on her own map with a margin for error of about five miles, give or take. Even so, she was reasonably confident that she would be able to spot the correct area from the air, as the portal had a couple of landmarks that could help point out its location to anyone who knew what to look for.

Their reason for marching into the space between worlds was a group of bandits that had been kidnapping children from nearby villages and towns, then holding them prisoner in the Outrealms. Since the laws of time apparently did not function the same way in the other dimension, there was no telling how long some of those kids would have been trapped in there. Since those that went into the Outrealms did not age while in them, they faced the possibility that some of the people they would be trying to rescue could have been trapped for years.

It was a depressing thought, but not one nearly as troubling as another that had plagued many of the members of their party. For during their initial encounter with the bandits responsible for the kidnappings, their leader was revealed to bear the likeness of a man they had thought long dead- Mako's future counterpart, Mataras. Whispers of necromancy and ghosts flitted about the campfires, and did nothing to make the son of the Black Swordsman feel any better about the entire situation.

The silver lining to that, Kiara thought, was that she and Lilina had been too busy trying to help their friend keep himself together to be worried about which one of them would win his affections. That wasn't to say that the situation was resolved, but at least the awkward glances and stilted conversations between them had more or less come to a stop.

The girl was snapped out of her musings when Elizabeth asked her, "Hey, Tactician?"

"Yes, Liz?" she asked distractedly as she looked over at her comrade.

"Are we nearly there? We've been hiking for a week now, and no magic portal," the red-head complained with a scowl. "When are we gonna find this thing?"

"Tomorrow, I should think," Kiara replied without looking at her map. Looking up at the sun, she murmured, "About an hour of sunlight left…"

"Should we make camp?" Lilina inquired as they paused before a decline in the forest floor. "We're at higher ground here. More defensible in case of an ambush."

"I agree," the tactician nodded. Turning to Elizabeth, she added, "Mind telling the others that this is where we'll be spending the night?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it," the other girl muttered, turning around to go and start passing on the message to the rest of the group.

"W-What do you think we're gonna find in the Outrealms?" Yinne asked nervously.

"Oh, I don't know," Kiara grunted as she laid her pack on the leafy ground in between two mighty redwood trees. "Bandits, for starters. Maybe a few Risen that have managed to hide in there since Grima's demise… Might be a few Einherjar left that we could recruit."

"Risen?!" the half-taguel squeaked. "I, uh… I think I'll be calling in a sick day in advance."

"We don't get sick days," Gilbert, a Sylph fairy boy said as he moved to claim a spot a few meters away from Kiara's.

"We don't?!"

"No, because if we get ill, we have Altman and Brian to take care of us," Lilina giggled.

"This is species endangerment!" Yinne cried helplessly as he bounded off, probably in search of his girlfriend, Minerva. "Save meeeeee…!"

Kiara laughed softly to herself and went to one of the transport wagons in order to get out her tent so that she could set up her shelter for the evening. She was surprised when Mako hopped out of the vehicle, holding a familiar bundle in his arms. "Nice try, pal, but that's my tent," she grinned at him.

"I know," he smiled back, though it was a grim version of the expression. Then again, he had been rather out of sorts since his encounter with Mataras. "I was hoping to help you set up for the evening."

The offer took her off-guard, seeing as he had never offered to do so before. It wasn't that such a gesture was out of character for him- far from it- but she had to wonder why the sudden interest in helping her?

Something in her expression must have hinted at the thoughts going on in her head, because he said in a lowered tone, "Show me where you want to settle in, and I'll explain while I set this up."

Still puzzled and intrigued, she showed him where she had laid her pack, and he followed without a word. Once they had reached the area, he started to roll out the bundle, and said, "This is my way of saying thanks, I suppose."

"Thanks for what?" she asked, surprised by his words.

"For talking with me the other night, before the village was attacked… and for not condemning me as a coward because of my weakness," he said, still maintaining a lowered tone so that the casual observer would not hear him. "I haven't really been able to put into words how much that meant to me, but I am grateful for your companionship, regardless." He looked her in the eye as he straightened up to begin rigging the canvas to one of the wooden supports, and saying, "I know things have been strained between you, me, and Lilina, and that I'm partly to blame for my indecision. But you haven't let that stop you from being there for me. Thank you, Kiara, truly."

She felt a blush coloring her cheeks, but unlike most of the time when heat suffused them, she had no trouble holding his gaze now. Fixing a warm, gentle smile on her face, she said, "You're worth being a friend to, no matter the circumstances, Mako."

"Even if it is my counterpart back from the grave to kill us all?" he asked dryly, but she could see the faintest hint of humor amid the bleak words.

"Even then," she said with a straight face, only to crack another smile at the young man dressed in black. "Besides, whatever he does isn't a reflection of you, remember? You are your own man."

"Yeah," he nodded, though she could tell that he still didn't quite believe the words that he spoke. "Thanks again, Kiara."

"Hey, if you still feel like you owe me thanks, I'll take your dessert ration at dinner," she teased him.

"How dare you?" he pretended to scoff before cracking a small smile of his own, which lightened Kiara's heart considerably.

 _I'd like to say that seeing him happy is all I want, but that wouldn't be true,_ she thought as she moved to assist him with erecting her tent. _What I really want is to be the one that makes him smile and laugh. Am I a bad person for wanting that? Is it selfishness to want to share in my life with his so that we are both happy?_ Her thoughts tugged her smile downwards, but she tried to ignore them while they strove to complete the necessary chores that were involved in setting up camp for a small militia.

* * *

That night after dinner, Kiara sat alone in her tent, a mostly untouched bowl of soup sitting amid a pile of maps and books that detailed whatever was known about the Outrealms. Some of it belonged to her, but the majority of this small library was on loan to her from Gilbert's personal collection.

She had been poring over the manuscripts for a few hours now, and was completely engrossed in her studies- so much so that she failed to hear the faint swishing of the entrance flap admitting a newcomer. In fact, it wasn't until the intruder coughed gently that she was even aware of their presence.

"Hunh?" she mumbled, looking up with bleary eyes at her cousin, who stood by the entrance with a raised eyebrow. "Oh. Hi, Oliver."

"You doing alright?" he asked her as he moved to stand across the table from her, glancing at the maps she had scattered about. "You've been at this a little too long from the looks of things."

"I'm fine; it's just a little hard on my eyes, reading with nothing but candlelight to brighten the tent," she sighed as she rubbed her red-rimmed orbs. "Did you need something?"

"Just to check in on our commanding officer," he replied with a light smile. "Kiara, please get some rest. We're going to be taking a pretty big risk tomorrow, going into the Outrealms. Our comrades need you well-rested so that you can make good decisions."

"I need to finish reading all of these if I'm going to be making well-informed decisions when we go in," she argued tiredly. "I can sacrifice a few extra hours of sleep for that."

"You'll only be getting five or six hours if you were to fall asleep right now," her cousin said. "I know we're trained to go into battle on minimal sleep, but if you have a chance to get some proper rest, you should take it."

"Ollie, I appreciate the concern, but don't make me pull rank on you," she said with a tired chuckle. "I'll be fine, I promise."

"Okay," he shrugged, apparently unfazed by the mild threat. "You can pull rank on me, but if you kick me out of here, I'll just go and get Mako to talk to you into getting some rest."

In spite of herself, his counterargument caught her off-guard. Shooting him a mild glare, she muttered, "That's not playing fair."

"Only dead men fight fair, remember?" Oliver smirked as he quoted their grandfather.

"The only dead man around here will be you if you don't let me get back to my work," she said warningly, her good humor starting to desert her.

Holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender, her cousin backed away and said, "All right. But if those candles aren't out in fifteen minutes, I'll make good on my suggestion."

"I'll have you doing double shifts on dishes for a week," she countered.

"Fine, gives me more of a chance to talk to Teela."

His comeback caused her to blink rapidly several times, then stare at him owlishly while a broad smile spread across his features. "You and…?" she started, then stopped, unsure of how to finish her inquiry.

"Nothing definite yet, but we've been enjoying one another's company quite a bit during this excursion," he told her casually. "She's on kitchen duty most of the time by popular demand, so if you want to stick me next to her, I'm all right with that."

"I… You… Just leave," Kiara finally said heavily. "Send Mako or don't, I've got work to do."

"Okay," Oliver shrugged again. "But you're robbing him of precious sleep time, you know."

"Don't blame me for-!"

"Sorry, can't hear you, I'm gone."

She glared at the tent flap, wondering if he really would rouse Mako from his sleep just to try and get her to rest, then decided that he was bluffing. Much as he was concerned for her, he wouldn't disturb his friend's slumber just to prove a point. _I think…_

* * *

"I should know my own cousin better than this," Kiara sighed as Mako stood across the table from her, wrapped in a rough blanket, swaying with exhaustion, eyes nearly shut against the mild candlelight. His hair was a right mess, too, but under any other circumstances than the current ones, she would have found it very cute.

"Yeah, well, he said you weren't sleeping, so I came to…" the Spriggan paused to heave a large yawn before continuing, "…ah, I came to tell you that you need your rest, too. Please, go to bed… I don't think either of us is going to be left alone until you do."

"You're not wrong!" Oliver's voice called from outside the tent.

"How do you have this much energy?!" Kiara demanded angrily.

"Brian asked me to try a new energy stimulant for an experiment, and it proved more potent than he had anticipated, but I think I'll crash- eventually," he said cheerfully. "I'll leave for now, but I'll be back soon. And if you aren't on your way to bed by then, cousin, I'll crack you over the head to knock you out."

"This is grounds for insubordination!" the tactician snapped at him.

"Conflict of interest," he chuckled, though it sounded as though he was moving away from them. "We're related, so I doubt it would hold up in court if you arrested me. Also, I'm your best swordsman, and you kinda need me. Sweet dreams!"

"Rrgh…" she scowled, then looked back at Mako. What she saw immediately caused her irritation to evaporate. The poor boy looked as though he was going to fall asleep standing up, but somehow he was managing to hold her gaze through long, slow blinks.

"Can I go to sleep yet?" he mumbled. "I, uh… Actually, I don't remember which tent is mine."

"Oh, you…" She sighed, trying not to laugh at the poor boy. "Have you still been having trouble sleeping?"

"Yeah…" he said drowsily. "But… if you're not sleeping, either… Then we can be midnight pals." He tried to smile, but it came out only as a slight upward twitch of his lips.

"No, I don't think so," Kiara giggled lightly, despite her own exhaustion. "You need your rest where you can get it."

"Looked in a… mirror lately?" Mako chortled. "Those rings… under your eyes are starting to look like some kind of mutated tea bags."

She winced, reaching up to touch the mentioned area. "That bad, eh?" she asked him.

"Yeah…" he said through another massive yawn. "Sorry, I think I'm going to need help back to my tent… Otherwise, I might just… fall asleep on the ground and stay there."

Kiara smiled at him and replied, "Well, I would help you, but I don't know where you put your tent."

"Oh…" he said blearily. "Huh."

Rolling her eyes, she moved around the table and said, "Come on, you." Letting him lean on her, she helped him over to the cot in the corner of the pavilion. He mumbled something along the lines of thanks, and allowed her to lead him without resistance. As she lowered him into the makeshift bed, she asked him, "So, are your nightmares still bothering you?"

"Yeah…" he drawled. "Getting… worse."

"Worse?" she repeated worriedly.

"Since the… forest," Mako sighed as she leaned him back, making sure that his head rested on the pillow. "Hard to rest… without him being there." She guessed that by 'him' he meant Mataras.

"Has anything been able to help?" she asked him concernedly. "Have Brian or Altman given you anything to help you sleep?"

"Yeah…" the young man said, his voice growing fainter as he settled into the bedding. "I sleep… but… the dreams are still… there…"

"Well…" Kiara said as she looked down at him, her heart aflutter. "Just remember that I'm here, and I'll do my best to keep the nightmares away." She thought that he was already asleep by that point, but she also liked to think that he had heard her, because when his eyes stopped moving underneath their lids, he had a small, peaceful smile on his face.

Feeling a little bolder than she normally did, Kiara leaned over his face and kissed him on the brow, wishing with all her heart that Naga would grant him at least one peaceful night.

Only then did she realize that she had given him the only bedding in her tent. "Dammit," she huffed before moving to extinguish the candles. Whether she had bedding or not, she was feeling extra tired after her conversation- if it could even be called that- with Mako.

 _I suppose I'll make do with the ground and a blanket,_ she thought resignedly. _But Ollie_ is _going to pay for this._

* * *

Mako awoke before Kiara did, grunting slightly as he sat up in her cot. Blinking a few times, he spent a few seconds trying to recall what had happened the previous evening. He remembered being woken up by Oliver, then talking with Kiara for a bit. Then… nothing.

He blinked a couple more times in surprise when he looked over and saw Kiara sleeping against the wall of her tent, a blanket around her shoulders and her blue-and-silver cloak under her head as a pillow. He realized with a start that she had given him her bedding, one of the few comforts she was afforded as a commanding officer- the rest of them slept in bedrolls that were little more than a blanket between them and the ground.

 _Why did she-? Oh, right._ He remembered with a touch of embarrassment that he hadn't been able to recall the location of his tent the previous evening. _Ach, Grima take me, that's humiliating._

"Kiara, are you up?" Mako froze in place as he heard Lilina's voice outside the tent, accompanied by her silhouette, which moved to open the tent flap. "You told me last night to be here… early." She paused in mid-step as she beheld Mako looking up at her like a fish about to be gutted for dinner.

"Uh…" he began, then stopped. When Lilina made no moves or said anything, Mako tried again. "This is…" he started, then sagged and muttered, "Sorry, I got nothing."

"Not even the truth?" Lilina asked, her voice even. Too even, the Spriggan thought warily, keeping an eye on the pommel of Falchion.

"I do have that, yes," he nodded. "But it's really so stupid that you'll probably think I'm lying anyway."

"Tell me before I decide that for myself," she replied, her face and tone still betraying nothing of her emotions.

"Can I meet you outside in two minutes?"

* * *

"Oliver worried about his cousin sleeping, so I guess he dragged me out of bed at some ungodly hour to try and convince Kiara that she needed some proper rest," Mako said swiftly as soon as they were out of earshot from the others. "I really don't know if it worked, because I pretty much just fell asleep standing at her door, so to speak. I guess she moved me to her cot and then slept on the floor?" He shrugged helplessly.

"That's what happened?" Lilina asked him, still keeping her voice restrained.

"Far as I can tell, yeah," he nodded.

"And what made you think that I wouldn't believe that?" she asked him quizzically.

"Is there a law in our country that allows us to not answer questions if we don't want to?" Mako asked hopefully.

"I don't know, I think so," Lilina said with a frown.

"You're the princess, shouldn't you know?" he asked, instantly realizing his mistake once he finished speaking.

Lilina's eyes grew cold as she stared him down before saying through gritted teeth, "That's what my father and I have advisors for. What does that have to do with my original question?"

"You know, whatever that law is, I am invoking it right now," Mako said with a nervous smile. "I don't want to answer that question- or the other one, either. I choose not to."

"Why?" she asked him with a dangerous gleam in her eyes.

"Hey, I'm protected the laws of the Halidom," Mako protested. "I think? Please don't stab me."

"Mako, I'm not going to hurt you because you spent the night on Kiara's cot," Lilina said with a roll of her eyes. "Now if you were missing any clothing items, or this happens again, we might be having a very different conversation."

Now it was Mako's turn to look defensive. "Wait, why would it matter if I did?" he realized aloud. Before Lilina could do more than give him a warning look, he stood up and said, "If I did spend the night there for… _other_ … reasons… why would it matter if I told you or not?" What he didn't say, but he thought should seem fairly obvious, was the fact that he didn't owe Lilina an explanation for any of his actions concerning his personal life.

The princess' eyes broke contact with his own as Lilina turned away to heave a deep sigh. "It might not matter where the militia in concerned," she said softly. "But no matter my feelings toward you- or Kiara's, for that matter- I'd have thought that we were still friends enough that you would at least explain to me why you would…" Her voice trailed off.

"Choose her over you?" Mako asked, his voice low. "Is that what you think this is?"

Lilina did not answer him.

Letting out a sigh of his own, Mako rubbed his eyes and said, "Lilina, I haven't chosen her over you. I haven't chosen you over her. I haven't chosen _anyone_. And the way that you're complicating my life, I don't know that I ever will get to make a choice with a clear head."

At this, she made a slight choking sound and turned around to face him with fire in her eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

Meeting her gaze evenly, though still very much aware of the sword she had at her waist, Mako replied, "I asked around with some of the others. Apparently Kiara had feelings for me long before you did."

"And?" Lilina demanded.

"I guess I'm just curious as to why you couldn't let your own best friend pursue her heart's desire," Mako asked pointedly. "Why- no, wrong question. _When_ did this start for you?"

The princess was silent for a couple of minutes in response. Just as Mako opened his mouth to repeat the question, she said in a soft voice, "It was about six months ago. Remember those brigands we took out alongside Lady Morgan and Sir Laurent? It was near Entharis."

"I remember."

"Do you also remember how you saved my life?" Lilina's voice was barely a whisper now.

Mako's answer was a little longer in coming this time, but he responded, "I do… You had been pinned down by archers, wounded with two arrows, one in your leg, the other in your stomach… I thought that you might have bled out at first."

"I almost did," Lilina said, rubbing her abdomen where the weapon had spilled her blood. "But you swooped in and saved me… Took out the archers and the man who was going to behead me so fast that I don't really know how you did it. Then you carried me to Altman and Sir Libra, taking blasts of magic on your own flesh along the way. You were my dark knight that day, come to save the princess…" She smiled, but it was weak attempt. "I suppose it sounds a lot like a fairy tale… And those don't happen in real life, do they?"

She made to walk away, but Mako stopped her with a hand on her wrist. "Look, I'm not…" he started then stopped. "Look at our parent's lives," he began again. "The dragon slayers, people call them. Sounds like something out of a bedtime story, yet we know it as the truth. My own flesh and blood proves that fairy tales do exist." So saying, his vibrated his wings to accentuate his point.

Lilina stared down at his hand for a moment before saying, "Then what does that mean for me?"

"It means that your prince charming will come someday," Mako replied. "Maybe it's me, maybe not. But I don't want you to hold onto 'maybes', alright? If you find somebody else that can make you happy, please, pursue them. And if one day I realize that I missed out, it will be on my head alone."

"My feelings about you won't change," Lilina insisted.

"Then you might be condemning yourself to a life of misery," Mako told her, though he tried to make his tone as gentle as possible. "You _and_ Kiara."

"What?"

"What if I did choose Kiara?" he asked her quietly. "Would you really be content with knowing that your best friend is with the love of your life? Would you really be able to support her as you ought?

"Or what if it was somebody else entirely?" he insisted before she could get an argument in. "What then? Do you and Kiara develop a hatred for one another because your arguments drove away the person you both coveted? Do you both spend your days pining after the one that got away?"

Lilina's face reddened, but she kept her voice mostly controlled. "I would content myself with knowing that you are happy, either way," she said firmly.

"Lilina, you are only fooling yourself with that lie," Mako sighed again. "Look, as it stands, I don't want to be with either of you. You're both amazing friends, but I don't care to see your own friendship deteriorate because of me."

"So what does that mean for the three of us, then?" she demanded. "Will you just keep leaving the possibility open to the both of us? That's cruel, to be aware of the situation and do nothing about it."

"There will be no possibility for either of you until you sort it out," Mako replied firmly. "You can't pin this on me- I never wanted it. I only thought of the two of you as comrades, nothing more. Now that I know how you both feel, it forced me to see you both in a different light, and now I can no longer see the people I once did."

"You're blaming us for your indecision?" she asked, affronted.

"I am naming the source of it," he replied. "And until one or both of you backs off, the only thing I want to do with either of you is to receive my orders in battle and give debriefings. No more campfires together, no more midnight visits, no more confiding in one another."

Lilina stared at him in utter shock and disbelief. "So that's it?" she scoffed. "You'll just cut two of your best friends out of your heart because you can't make a decision?"

"In case you haven't noticed," he snarled, finally losing his composure as he rounded on her. "I've got more than enough on my plate to deal with than worrying about how to break it to you that I… am _not…_ interested right now. There's a murderous kidnapper on the loose, who just so happens to look like me, and not only that, represents what I could become!"

He shoved his face invasively close to Lilina's at the end of his little tirade. She took a half-pace back, her hand on the hilt of her sword, her eyes wide with fear and embarrassment. When it was clear that he was done talking, she whispered, "You know, you're starting to look an awful lot like that painting outside the throne room."

Mako flinched as if he had been stabbed, then retreated a few paces away from her as he said, "Tell Kiara what I've told you. I'm tired of being the toy that two children are fighting over."

"We weren't-!"

"I said I'm _done_!" His voice cut at her like a whip, rendering her silent long after he had walked away from her and disappeared among their tents. Then again, it was hard to see anything while rain fell from her eyes.

* * *

Oliver and Kiara sat together as they ate, both of them surreptitiously glancing at Mako, who sat alone in a corner, glaring daggers at his breakfast.

"Okay, I know it was Kerry on duty for breakfast, but I don't think that any dish has ever deserved to be looked at with that much hatred," Oliver said in a low voice to his cousin.

"He looks more frustrated than angry, Ollie," Kiara replied. "I just wish I knew why."

"You don't think it's because I dumped in your tent last night, do you?" he asked with a grimace. "Which by the way, I am very sorry about. I was worried about you not getting enough sleep, and I really thought that he would be able to get through to you."

"Yes, you should be sorry about that," Kiara muttered, shooting him a scowl. "Even if I did get a good night's sleep because he was able to more or less convince me, you should know better than to manipulate people's feelings like that."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry- a thousand times over," Oliver said defensively. "I was pretty tired myself, and I wasn't thinking clearly."

"You said you were-"

"Yes, I was playing Brian's guinea pig for an energy stimulant, but as it turns out, the mind needs rest just as often as the body," Oliver sighed. "So even though my body had plenty of energy, my mind was not really where it should have been."

"Hmph," Kiara muttered. "Well, I forgive you, but you are going to still spend the next two days on cleanup duty for the mess tent. Brian will be joining you, but it'll be for a full week for him since I didn't approve of these tests of his on my troops."

"That's fair," Oliver agreed before she could change her mind.

"Also, you're going to get Mako to come join us for breakfast so that you can apologize to him, too." Kiara smiled thinly at her cousin while he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

At last he said in a rather small voice, "I don't want to."

"You had no problem dragging him out of his tent to come and join me last night, so I don't see why this should be an issue for you," she replied. "Go on, then."

"This was so much easier when I wasn't aware of what I would be doing," the young man groaned before standing up and moving to do as she had ordered. Over his shoulder, he added, "I will get you back for this."

"Of that I have no doubt," Kiara chuckled.

* * *

"Hey, Mako," Oliver said as he approached the Spriggan boy. "I just wanted to say-"

"Shove it," Mako growled. "You've no idea what you did with your little stunt last night."

The sheer bitterness and resentment in his friend's voice alerted Oliver to one very simple fact- whatever Mako was angry about, it went beyond him as an individual. Which meant that this could not be handled by Oliver on his own. Upon realizing this, Robin's grandson nodded and backed away, raising his hands in a placating gesture. "All right," he said as he stepped back. "But I am sorry for my part in it, just the same." So saying, he left Mako to his brooding.

* * *

"Uh…" Oliver said as he sat back down with his cousin. When she looked a question at him, he said, "I would rather shovel pegasus dung for the rest of this excursion than go back and talk to him right now."

"What, really?" Kiara asked him disbelievingly.

"Yes, because no matter what kind of punishment you inflict on me, it is a lot less scary than he is right now," the young replied as he jerked his thumb at Mako over his shoulder. "I called it right the first time- he is about a hundred different shades of angry right now."

"You're sure?" Kiara replied, concern replacing her slightly joking manner.

"Have you ever, in the entire time that we've known him, seen Mako _growl_ at anybody?" Oliver inquired.

"Not that I can remember, no," Kiara answered. "He's yelled in battle, sure, but…"

"This is way different," Oliver insisted. "He's beyond angry with me, but I get the sense that I'm not the only one he's mad at." He hesitated, then asked, "Look, at the risk of getting my head lopped off, did anything… _happen_ … between you two last night?"

"Wha-? No!" Kiara insisted. Noticing the looks that a few of their friends were giving her, she lowered her tone and said, "Nothing worth writing home about. He was practically asleep again by the time you had him at the entrance."

To his credit, Oliver nodded and accepted her word without any reticence. "All right, did you two argue? Talk? Gamble?"

"Gamble?" she snorted.

"I've seen people blow their tops for less," Oliver shrugged. "Honestly, though, can you think of anything that happened between you two that would see him this upset?"

"We hardly talked, and what we did talk about was… private," she replied. When Oliver opened his mouth, she cut him off by saying, "Look, it's not my place to tell you what we discussed, though suffice to say it's nothing romantic in nature."

"All right, I'll take your word for it," he said reassuringly. "So if you didn't say anything to upset him, and nothing 'happened', what on earth has him so mad?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Kiara shrugged. "He was gone when I woke up, so if he got upset, it was probably after he left my tent."

"Huh…" Oliver muttered. "I wonder if he's talked to anybody this morning?"

"I'll ask around while we're packing in our gear," Kiara decided. "I'd take it as a favor if you did the same."

"Of course," her cousin nodded. "Truth be told, with Mataras- real or not- popping up out of nowhere, I worry about him. I hope he'll make it through this all right."

"As long as we are here to help him when he needs us, I'm sure he'll be fine in the end," the tactician smiled.

* * *

About an hour later, when everyone's equipment was nearly packed in, Oliver approached Gilbert. "Kiara wants you on forward scout today," he told him.

"Very well," the Sylph said as he slapped a heavy book shut and stowed it in his baggage. "What range?"

"No further than a kilometer in advance- she thinks we'll arrive at our destination today," the blue-haired swordsman replied. "But before you go, there's something I need to ask you about."

"Yes?" Gilbert asked curiously. It was unlike Oliver to socialize with him outside of delivering orders or practicing combat. It wasn't that there was any animosity between them, they just weren't friends.

Sensing the trace awkwardness, the swordsman said, "Look, I know we aren't exactly friends, but I was trying to talk to your cousin this morning, and he seemed very out of sorts."

Gilbert frowned, his curiosity transforming into concern. "How so? Is he ill?" he asked. Though they were not often seen together, it was known among the Shepherds that Gilbert and Mako regarded one another as brothers.

"No, he just seemed…" Oliver hesitated. "It will seem trivial, but honestly, I've never seen him so angry before."

"Well, what did you do to anger him?" Gilbert asked, prompting Oliver to look offended. "I mean, you must have done _something_."

"I did, but nothing that earned me his reaction to my greeting this morning," Robin's grandson protested. "Look, you know your cousin. Is it normal for him to have anger as a mood? From what I know of my friend, he gets angry as a reaction sometimes, but not preemptively."

Gilbert considered this for a moment before saying, "I would agree that he is not an angry person in general. However, given what you've told us about his future counterpart playing a role in all this, I would imagine that could put a serious strain on his psyche that could lead to the mood swings you are describing."

Oliver frowned, but said, "Maybe you're right… It feels like this is something else to me, though. Look, would you just keep an eye on him for the next few days? I don't think he really wants me near him right now."

"Of course," Gilbert nodded. "Should I find anything unusual about his behavior, would you prefer I report to you or Kiara?"

"Whichever one of us is closest," Oliver shrugged. "Thank you, Gilbert."

"Thank you for being concerned for my cousin," the Sylph answered with a small smile. "I may not know you well, Oliver, but I am glad to know that Mako has made such good friends, living in Ylisstol."

* * *

"All right," Kiara huffed as she finished loading the last of her books into the wagon. "That's the last of-"

"We need to talk."

"Gah!" Kiara yelped as Lilina grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around. "Grima's eyes, you almost-! Lilina?" Her protest was interrupted by concern for her friend when she saw that the princess' eyes were red and puffy, and that there were tear tracks running down her cheeks. "Lilina, what happened?"

"We happened," she said bitterly. "Look, this is probably going to take a little while. Can we delay the departure?"

"We've still got about fifteen minutes before we actually get moving, but if need be, we can hop in the wagon and continue our conversation in there," Kiara answered as she patted the wooden structure. "Now, what's going on? What do you mean 'we happened'? Is something about the mission bothering you, or-?"

"It's Mako," Lilina interrupted. "He… I came in… I don't…" She tried desperately to stifle another sob, but only just managing to do so.

"Lilina, you aren't making any sense," Kiara said as she pulled her friend in close for a hug. "Try and slow down, then tell me what happened with you two."

The princess nodded and forced herself to take several deep breaths, trying to steady her accelerated pulse and calm her thoughts. When she had regained some control, she said, "I… came into your tent this morning. You wanted to discuss ambush patterns that involved uphill battles, remember?"

"Yes, I was wondering why you didn't show up for that, but figured something else had taken your attention," Kiara replied with a frown. "Did you and Mako get into a fight?"

"Sort of," she sniffled. "When I came into your tent, he was still there- just waking up from the looks of things. I saw him, and you, sleeping on the floor." From there, she explained the conversation they'd had, concluding with his ultimatum concerning the tangle in which they had found themselves in.

"Oh boy…" Kiara breathed heavily. "No wonder he was so testy this morning." Lilina looked a question at her, so she added, "He was pretty curt with Oliver at breakfast, and we've been trying to figure out why. I guess that this explains it."

Lilina sniffed again, then asked, "So now what?"

"Now, nothing," Kiara shrugged. "We honestly don't have time for this. The mission comes first- we can sort out our own messes after we get home safely."

Lilina gaped at her, dumbstruck. "How can you be so callous?!" she demanded.

"Because my job demands that I not put my personal feelings before the duty entrusted to me," Kiara said, a warning tone in her voice that Lilina chose to ignore.

"Well then I don't know who taught you, but it certainly wasn't Sir Robin or Lady Morgan," she snapped. "They always, _always_ put their heart into their work, never separating them. If you're trying to keep them apart, you're not even half the tactician they-"

 _Smack!_

Lilina reeled, her left cheek stinging and red from where Kiara's right palm had collided with it. Looking at her friend, too stunned to speak, she watched as the tactician pointed at her accusingly and said, "Don't presume to tell me how to do this job, and don't you _dare_ insinuate that I am anything other than Robin and Morgan's heir. When duty called, my grandfather was ready to put his own wellbeing aside in order to slay Grima. And when they realized what he was up to, my aunt and father took it upon themselves to possibly sacrifice their own lives to do what needed be done so that others would not have to suffer. I am following their example, remembering that there are people who need us to do our duty, people that don't have time for us to figure out who loves who."

"Ignoring for the moment that you have just struck your future sovereign," Lilina said slowly as she caressed her injured flesh. "Your teachers never, not _once,_ ignored the needs of their troops. And right now, I need for us to figure this out, Kiara! I can't go on like this!"

"You can and you will!" Kiara snapped. "Your future self- my grandmother- may have found love in the midst of war, but it was only because she had her priorities straight first! The mission, then our personal lives! When will you learn that?!"

"Right after you learn that we aren't pieces on your chess board!" Lilina spat.

"I have _never_ -"

"Will you two _just stop_?!" a new voice interrupted, startling them both. The girls turned to see Ignacio, of all people, standing there with a very disapproving frown on his face, complimented by his tightly folded arms. "I'm embarrassed for you if this is how you treasure your friendship," he said in disgust. "And I'm certainly not taking orders from a pair of brats that can't work together for two weeks without getting at each other's throats."

"Brats?!" Lilina repeated.

"We are the two ranking officers-!"

"Yeah?!" Ignacio snapped, interrupting Kiara. "Because I don't see my commanding officer and her closest advisor. I see two schoolgirls arguing over the pettiest of matters. Kiara is right, this is _war_. People will die if we don't act! But we can't act if we are not all with one another, and not all of us can keep performing at our best when we have a heavy heart! Real leaders find a way to connect with and reassure their troops, not just order them to keep going, even when all seems hopeless! If you were both trained by the best, then you had better believe that your troops expect the best from you!"

Both girls reddened, shamefaced as they realized that he was right. Both of them had been acting as poor examples for their troops, ignoring lessons that could be learned from one another, and instead choosing to see them as flaws in each other's character.

"Now for the love of Naga, will you please start acting like the crown princess and the future Grandmaster?" Ignacio demanded. "We're all sick of being led by two children."

For a moment, there was dead quiet in the air between them. Then, Kiara asked, "Who'd have thought you had that in you?"

"I am the crown Prince of Plegia," the young man replied seriously. "I may smile and wave a fair amount, but I know what is expected of people that are destined to lead. Right now, neither of you are acting as you should."

"You've made your point, Ignacio," Lilina said tiredly. "We get it. Just…"

"Get the troops moving, and we will work out our issues on the road," Kiara asserted. "We will do our best to keep it quiet."

"That's all that we ask," the prince said with a sigh of relief.

* * *

The two girls were sitting in the back of one of the three supply wagons allotted to their small company while Ignacio drove the two horses so that they could have an open discussion without worrying about any other eavesdroppers- so long as they used their inside voices.

"So, what now?" Kiara asked the other bluenette.

"What?"

"You're the one saying that we need to hurry up and figure out how to settle things between us and Mako, so let's hear your idea for how to do that," the tactician answered, a little exasperated. "Surely you must have some notion on how we're going to proceed, seeing as it seems to be bothering you so much."

"Kiara, play nice," Ignacio called over his shoulder.

"Butt out!"

"I… hadn't really thought that far ahead," Lilina admitted, ignoring the interruption. "I suppose it's silly, but no one really looks to me for bright ideas. You're the idea girl around here, so I suppose I just…" She trailed off, embarrassed.

"You thought I had a magic solution for this tangle?" Kiara snorted, her lips twisting upwards in a grim amusement. "I'm book-smart, not a love doctor."

"Sorry," Lilina replied, hanging her head.

Kiara sighed heavily and rolled her eyes to heaven, trying to think of what to say next without starting another fight. Eventually, she said, "I suppose… We should try to evaluate our compatibility?"

"What?" Lilina asked, looking up at her comrade. "What does that mean?"

"We try to figure out which one of us would make a better future wife for him based on what we each have to offer," Kiara said bluntly. "We both have strengths to support him, but also weaknesses that could be his undoing, if we're not careful."

"You're really going to have us compare ourselves in such stark manners?" Lilina inquired dubiously. "You know that if we do this, there are certain things that we can't unsay."

"I know, but you're determined to do this now, and I can't think of anything else," Kiara replied, her tone etched with frustration. "Not unless you have a better idea?"

"…I don't," Lilina admitted softly.

"Want me to help?" Ignacio asked, sounding as though he had a huge grin on his face.

"These interruptions do not end well for you," Kiara said icily.

"Sorry!"

"Shall we?" Lilina sighed.

"I can't believe I'm doing this, but Naga help me, yes," Kiara sighed. "Let's see how we measure up to one another."

"Good things first," Lilina asserted. "Is that all right?"

"Sure," the other girl muttered. "And we'll start with you, okay?"

"Very well," the princess nodded. "What can I offer Mako, in your opinion?"

"Honestly?" Kiara sighed. "A great deal. You're the crown princess, the future Exalt, which by proxy would one day make him the most powerful man in the country. Your beauty alone is enough to turn heads without adding your rank to it, so there's that. You're both warriors of rare skill, and you love your homeland to death. People all throughout the land know how you fight on their behalf, and they love you for it- and Mako respects you for it. You're kind to your subjects, but your tenacity in combat is hard to match, which I know he values in a partner on the battlefield. Your families have a history, but then, I could say the same about mine. Not to mention the fact that you've known one another your entire lives and fought together many times, though again, I can say the same. And… you really do love him, as far as I can tell."

Lilina's face was a tad red now, but she managed to say, "I didn't know you thought so highly of me." It seemed strange that in light of why they were making these confessions for her to feel a new surge of affection for her commanding officer.

"I do," Kiara said so softly, Lilina had to strain to hear it. "But shall I lower your opinion of me now? I know your flaws as well as your strengths."

"Wait," Lilina said hurriedly. "Allow me to list your own strengths before we injure one another's feelings."

"All right."

"You're one of the most brilliant, selfless, beautiful women that I have the honor of knowing," Lilina began. "Your wit is only matched by your determination, and your own visage is as alluring as Lady Tiki's. Your heart also beats for this land of ours, and your skills would serve well at Mako's side, especially since you are both descended from the Alfheim warriors."

Here, she gestured at Kiara's azure wings for emphasis, both of them picturing his pitch-black wings that were similar in nature. Lilina continued on, saying, "Mako is best friends with your cousin, so his ties to your family arguably trump my own. And while I may have known him for my entire life, the same can be said of you. And I believe that between the two of us, he trusts you more than I, seeing as he places his life in your hands when you conjure the battle plans that we use. …And I know that you have loved him since before we were even made to understand what love is."

Kiara nodded in acceptance of the praise, saying, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Lilina answered. She hesitated, then added, "I suppose we should now move on to our flaws, then."

"We could stop now and debate off of merit alone," Kiara suggested.

"No," Lilina said stubbornly. "If we're doing this, we need to see it through."

"Fine, then," Kiara sighed, resigned to the inevitable. "You first."

"Well…" Lilina winced. "You tend to let people know that you're the smartest one in the room, even if they already know it, which I believe might lead to an inferiority complex on his part. You're so dedicated to being a tactician like your mother and grandfather that you would have almost no time to invest in a relationship. I don't know that you could love him as much as your job."

Kiara took a deep breath to keep herself calm, forcing her body to stay relaxed. Once she felt her pulse settle a little, she began to speak quickly, so as not to be interrupted. "You're more stubborn than your father, and as clueless as your mother when it comes to others' sense of privacy." Already, the princess was reddening rapidly, but Kiara pressed on in a dull monotone, "Your rashness is nothing short of embarrassing, and you're quite simply used to having things go your way, which in simpler terms, makes you spoiled. Were you to be in a relationship with him, my guess is that compromises would be all but impossible for the two of you to reach, and further, you would remain unaware of how much you would be hurting him whenever you inevitably overrule his wishes with your own single-minded stubbornness.

"Lastly, as the next Exalt, you would be expected to have children," Kiara concluded, leaving a tomato-faced Lilina feeling very confused.

"What…?" she tried, before feeling a sudden need to clear her throat. When she had done that, she asked, "What on earth do children have to do with this?"

"He says he doesn't want any," Kiara told her. "He told me some time ago that children confuse and scare him. That he's spent so long learning how to end people's lives that he's unsure that he would even be suitable for fatherhood. I myself could be persuaded either way, but were he to marry you, the choice would be taken out of his hands."

"I'm sure that he would ada-"

"Do you know what keeps him up at night?" Kiara demanded suddenly. "Did you even know that he hasn't hardly slept since we began this trip, and that his encounter with Mataras has made that fact even worse? Do you know what his hopes and dreams are for the future? Do you even have a clear picture of Mako in your mind, or are you simply fixated on that memory of him charging through enemy fire to come and save you, making that out to be his entire identity?"

"I am aware that he is as human as any of us," Lilina shot back with some heat. "But is it wrong for a girl to dream of marrying the knight in shining armor?"

"No, it's not," Kiara nodded. "But you didn't answer my other questions, so allow me to reiterate them in an abridged manner. How well do you really know Mako?"

"I know him well enough to be his friend," Lilina said tightly, her pride smarting after the vicious blows Kiara had dealt to it. "Isn't one of the merits of courtship and marriage supposed to be discovering new things about your partner?"

"True," Kiara acknowledged calmly. "But can you say that you are one of his confidants? Good relationships, above all else, are based in trust."

"I-" Lilina started to say, the stopped and lowered her head slightly. "No, I'm not," she mumbled. "He doesn't share his deep concerns with me, and never once have I heard what he wants out of life beyond his role as a Shepherd."

Kiara nodded silently, though without any hint of smugness or superiority. "He shared such things with me, and I with him, as of late," she said quietly. "I honestly didn't know if he had done the same with you or not."

"So he trusts you more," Lilina said a trifle bitterly. "I get it. But there's another point that you need to consider."

"What is that?" Kiara inquired, wincing as the cart hit a dip in the path, jostling them both a bit.

"As the leader of the Shepherds, can you knowingly place him in danger, knowing that should he fall due to an error you made, it would plague you for the rest of your days?" Lilina asked challengingly.

"I accepted that burden when I inherited my grandfather's mantle," Kiara answered without batting an eye, surprising Lilina with the fortitude and conviction of her response. "The fact that I love him has no impact on my decisions as a tactician. And if he were to fall, I would grieve when time permits, but above all else, I would do my duty to this company.

"But should he become a target of political games or the victim of an assassin, would you be able to carry on with your life, and all the burdens that would come with it, without him to support you?" she asked her comrade in a dull voice. "As Exalt, your burden will be even greater than my own. With a single decree, you could see our country through a golden era of wealth and bountiful harvests- or send us careening into starvation and ruin. You would rely on Mako to make those decisions with you, should you one day wed him. Can you see him being happy with that burden, and perhaps more importantly, I ask you again- could you carry on without him to support you, should he fall prey to the clutches of Grim Death?"

"Mako would make an excellent King Regent," Lilina replied.

"But would he be happy with that role?" Kiara pressed intently.

"No," Lilina growled. "No, dammit! He wouldn't be as happy as my husband as he would be yours!" Before Kiara could say anything, Lilina snapped, "You win! He would rather be a soldier instead of a ruler! You have the strength of character to endure if something happened to him, and I don't! You're the better match for him, so go on! Take him, have your happily ever after, best of luck and all that." Tears were rolling down her cheeks at the end of her rant, and she broke down into quiet sobs, defeated.

Kiara made no move to leave, though. She simply sat in the supply cart as it rolled along, gazing at her friend with no small measure of sympathy. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I didn't want to do this."

Lilina sniffled and mumbled between her hiccups, "I know… _hic_ … You deserve him. I've been selfish- _hic_ \- and I tried to get in your way… just because I saw something I couldn't have…" Wiping at her eyes, she added miserably, "You were- _hic_ \- right… I am rash… I didn't pause to consider - _hic_ \- how much this would hurt if… _when_ I lost."

"You haven't lost yet," Kiara told her friend. "I intend to pursue Mako in my own time, but that doesn't mean that he's going to reciprocate those feelings. If he has no romantic inclinations toward me, you are free to pursue your own heart, Lilina. After all, agápē love does not always go both ways. All's fair, okay?"

"Ha," the princess sniffled. "And yet I still find myself- _hic_ \- preparing in my heart for a lifetime of loneliness." Looking her Undine friend in the eyes, she asked, "How do you stay so levelheaded in a time like this?"

"I had the masters of levelheadedness to teach me," the other girl answered with the ghost of a smile. That expression vanished, however, as she said, "I really am sorry, Lilina. This is not how I wanted to settle things between us."

"Yes, well…" Lilina sighed heavily. "I suppose I didn't leave us much choice, did I? It's as you said- I'm impatient and too used to having things done my way."

"I also said that you're one of the most amazing women I've ever known," Kiara reminded her. "You will get through this, and become better for it, I am certain."

"I wish I could be so sure," the princess said, tears still falling from her azure orbs. "How are you?"

"I'm not," Kiara said with another faint smile. "Tacticians are master bluffers, don't you know? Half of the time we end up having trouble believing the things we're telling our troops."

"Ah," Lilina replied, a fragile smile appearing on her face, in spite of herself. "I suppose I should give Mako an apology… and let him know that we've reached an understanding."

"Would you like me to go with you?" Kiara asked. "I'm at fault, too."

"No," the princess sniffed once more as she dashed her eyes with the fabric from her cape. "I think it would be best if we say our pieces separately, and since he's probably still sore at me, I should go and apologize first."

Kiara nodded amicably and said, "If you believe that's best. Good luck."

"Might want to hold off on that," Ignacio announced to them as the cart came to a stop. "Gilbert is returning."

Kiara's brow knitted as she moved up to the front of the cart. The only reason that the Sylph boy would be returning was if he had seen enemy forces ahead of them, or-

"Do you think he found the gate to the Outrealms?" Lilina asked quietly.

"Let's hope so," Kiara muttered. "I could do with some good news."

* * *

"Based on the notes Sir Robin had compiled, and the maps you've shown us, I do believe that I've found the location of the Outrealm gate," Gilbert said as he stood in front of Lilina and Kiara. "We can be there within the hour."

"You're certain?" Kiara asked him grimly. "We don't want to go in circles looking for the damn thing."

"Well, I wasn't entirely sure at first, but then I saw a few men dressed in Grimleal robes standing in front of what I guessed was the gate, so yes, I'm reasonably certain," the young man said with a hint of dry humor.

"No need for the back sass, soldier," Lilina said irritably.

"Lilina, enough," Kiara interjected before Gilbert could make a comment that would see him benched for the mission. "Gil, see to it that everyone has weapons ready and is on full alert. If these are veteran dark mages, we could be in for a bad fight."

"On the other hand, if they are new recruits, this will be a light exercise," the green-winged scholar replied. Despite his apparent doubts, however, he moved to do as he was told.

"Better to expect the worst and encounter nothing than the other way around," Kiara murmured. "Rule twenty-three of grandfather's tactics." Turning to her comrade, she asked, "Are you going to be able to hold yourself together well enough to act as my second-in-command for this next battle?"

"I… don't know," Lilina answered honestly. "I know the truth, and my head should be clearer for it, but… I cannot help but be at war with my heart right now."

"Shall I appoint an interim secondary captain, then?" Kiara asked, a little more forcefully. "Because if you cannot keep your head on, Lilina, I can't trust you to lead with me at the forefront of the coming battle."

"I know that," the princess nodded, her chin trembling. Raising her head with what little dignity she could muster, she said, "Appoint a temporary replacement for the day. I'll feel better once I have a chance to sleep on it, I promise."

"Very well," Kiara replied, seeming relieved and satisfied with the answer. "Would you terribly mind fetching Oliver for me?"

"As you wish," Lilina answered. "I rather thought you'd choose him, anyway."

"Then let's get ready to march," Kiara declared, assuming her commanding air once more. "We've got children to rescue."

* * *

 **Kirito: So... That was a thing.**

 **Mataras: Yeah, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure that wasn't my painkillers and sleep deprivation doing the writing for me. I don't usually do drama like that... I think?**

 **Asuna: Not really. You're more about who's killing whom and how. Some light romance themes here and there, but nothing like what we just read.**

 **Kirito: On the other hand, Mako has quite the pick, huh?**

 **Asuna: Kirito...**

 **Mataras: Yeah, even if Lilina is agreeing to back off for now, that doesn't mean that anything will happen between Mako and Kiara anytime soon... if ever.**

 **Asuna: Have you not made up your mind?!**

 **Mataras: Oh no, I have, I just like keeping people in suspense.**

 **Readers: _We know._**

 **Mataras: Next time- Gate to All.**


	4. Gate to All

**A/N: Sorry I didn't have this up sooner, guys. I've basically had to have my main working computer rebuilt from scratch, which was a bummer, but the good news is that I've been able to work off of my laptop, and now I'm ready with a new chapter for you all!**

 **Without further ado, let's see how the new Shepherds handle the ever-changing Outrealms! New foes and the unexpected return of old allies are afoot, and amidst it all, will we finally see the situation between Mako, Kiara, and Lilina resolved? Read now to find out!**

* * *

Gate to All

"This is it?" Oliver asked in an undertone as he and his cousin crouched in the bushes that bordered a clearing in the forest that they and the other Shepherds had been traveling through. His gaze was focused on what looked like the crumbling remains of a castle, where oddly enough, the entrance appeared largely untouched.

"See the air where the doors should be?" Kiara replied in an equally quiet whisper. "That looks like a gateway to me."

Oliver nodded as he took her meaning- the area that she had mentioned seemed to shimmer, almost like how water ripples after being struck, except that this distortion was occurring on nothing but air. If the texts that his cousin had been studying were accurate, this was a gate to the Outrealms- a world between worlds, one might say. In it, heroes of the past could be encountered, as well as those that might be from times yet to come.

There was another gate that led to this strange reality located in Ferox, one which the older Shepherds had used many times to reach a favored vacation spot, often bringing along their children. While this did mean that it wouldn't be their first time using an Outrealm gate, this would be nothing like their childhood memories of playing on the beach and soaking in hot springs. They were in pursuit of a surviving sect of Grimleal cultists that had kidnapped what might be as many as several dozen children, and they doubted that they would go down without a fight.

"The four guards lolling about also seem to be a good indicator that we've found the right spot," Kiara said with a faint grin, causing Oliver's eyes to flick toward the open area in front of the ruins. Sure enough, there were four men, all dressed in the dark clothing of Plegia's former church, all of them more or less relaxing on the grass or under the shade of some rocks.

"Huh," he muttered. "Somehow I completely overlooked them." After a moment, he added, "I see two swords, one archer, and one mage. Shouldn't be a problem."

"Not unless they have friends in the trees or the ruins," Kiara countered softly.

"Gilbert would have noticed any archers in the trees when he did his flyover," Oliver replied with a negative shake of his head. "If these guys have been here for any length of time and bothered to deploy archers in the trees, they would have constructed watch posts in the branches. They'd be hard to find from the ground, sure, but no one thinks to disguise themselves from eyes that are looking down."

"We don't know that," Kiara argued. "If you really did see the Black Spirit, then the leader of this sect is a lot more cunning than your average bandits. He'd know to look out for sky troops."

Oliver considered this for a moment before he nodded reluctantly. "All right, so we proceed under the assumption that they will have backup in the trees. How do you want to play this?"

"Attack pattern: Sigma," his commanding officer replied without hesitation.

"Ah," Oliver grinned. "Scorching Storm or Dark Thunder variation?"

"The latter," Kiara replied as she made a motion to indicate that she wanted to move away and head back toward where their comrades were waiting for them. "I'd rather minimize the risk that we set fire to the forest."

"Fair enough."

"Now, let's head back and rally the troops before these guys decide to be more vigilant."

* * *

"Crap baskets!" Mako exclaimed as he clutched at his hair. "Again?!"

"You never were very good at chess," Gilbert said with a not-so-hidden smile as he leaned back from the game board that he and his cousin had been using. "Why the sudden interest?" The two of them had decided to play the classic game while waiting on Oliver and Kiara to come back from their scouting trip.

"I need _something_ to distract me from the dung heap that has become my life," the raven-haired boy answered with a sigh. "I was hoping to use my brain for this, rather than raging impotently at myself and the circumstances."

"And how has that worked out for you?" Gilbert asked, dropping the smile.

"Well, I've found something else to direct my rage at, I suppose," Mako replied grimly. "I think that for the first time in my life, I'm starting to regret being a part of this group."

"Come now, you don't mean that," the Sylph Sage chided him. "Besides, I think that these problems can hardly be avoided- regardless of whether or not you joined us, these Grimleal dastards would have sprung up to cause trouble, and the rest of us would have to deal with it. Why the sudden conflict of interests?"

"Funny way to put it, actually," Mako grumbled as he glanced around to make sure that no one listening in one them. "Kiara and Lilina are making it… stressful, if you will, to maintain good relations with them."

"They are both in love with you," Gilbert said bluntly, causing Mako to flinch. "I can think of worse problems to have."

"You mean like having an evil twin who wants to kill all the old Shepherds and possibly bring back a demon-dragon?" his cousin replied wryly.

"Yet you seem more upset by the conundrum that the princess and our tactician have presented you with," Gilbert said gently. "Why is that?"

"I don't know, Gil," Mako sighed heavily as he looked up at the sky. "It's all just so confusing. I mean, I love the both of them, but I don't know that I can see myself as being _in love_ with either of them. I've never been in love with anyone, really."

"And what about that makes it so frightening?" the young man with green wings inquired. "If a romantic love is to grow from within you, who better than one of your oldest friends to share in that?"

"Because one, I'm not certain that I reciprocate," Mako replied a little testily. "Two, it almost feels like if I chose one over the other, it would almost be like a betrayal to the one who was left out. And I don't know that I can bring myself to do that. I suppose a third point is that I dislike them putting me on the spot as they have."

"Have they, though?" Gilbert asked quietly. When Mako gave him a questioning look, he explained, "Based on my own observations, it is the actions of one that has brought on this particular series of events."

"If you say it's me, I'm casting a Nosferatu on you," Mako said warningly, causing his cousin to chuckle.

"No, no, not you," he answered. "To me, it seems as though, in her impatience with you and Kiara both, Lilina has sought to take matters in her own hands and thus created this rift between all of you. Kiara, on the other hand, has quietly harbored her affections for you for many years, yet never has she made any advances on you until Lilina more or less forced her hand."

Mako paused, thinking back on all that had happened between him and the two girls in the last few weeks, and quickly realized that his cousin was right. He wasn't saying that Lilina had meant to cause this tension, but it was indeed her impatience that had caused the girls' feelings to be made apparent, and in a way that had only caused strife. She was someone who hated being idle, or waiting for things to happen. As a princess raised by a strong father and mother, she was used to _making_ things happen.

On the other hand, if Kiara felt so strongly about him, why remain silent? Why not act at all, instead of letting him continue on in ignorance, until everything came to a boil as it had?

He mentioned these last thought to Gilbert, who shrugged and replied, "If she had, who is to say you would have reacted any differently than you have to this whole mess? Think about it- she knows you well enough to know that you dislike major life changes like a romantic confrontation- for lack of a better term- would cause. I think that it was out of a respect for your feelings on such matters that caused her to remain quiet on the subject."

"Oh," was all that Mako could think to say. "I… hadn't thought of that."

"Honestly, why am I the one having to tell you these things?" Gilbert sighed as he leaned back against a fallen tree. "You're the older one. I should be asking you about these matters, not the other way around."

"I'm only two years older than you," Mako smirked. "Besides, you've never mentioned a girl before. Is she a Shepherd? Or someone in Ylisse?"

"Hmm," Gilbert grinned as he looked up at the sky. "No. There's no one. I do believe I'll simply be married to my books." In truth, he had harbored affections for Kiara for some time, but knowing that she only had eyes for his cousin, he had never let the fact become known. Besides, he wasn't being entirely dishonest- he was perfectly happy to devote himself to his magic and immersing himself in the knowledge of the world.

"Well, be glad with your lot in life, then," Mako sighed. "I'm sure your existence is far less complicated than mine is."

"I concur," his cousin smiled, keeping his eyes on the sky. However, he did add, "But I do believe that there is more opportunities for joy in your life than in mine."

"I hate you and your stupid logic sometimes," the Spriggan warrior muttered.

"I know."

* * *

Kiara and her cousin returned a little bit after that. "Mount up, grab your weapons," Oliver announced once everyone had gathered. "We've found the gate about a kilometer from here. There's a token guard in front of it, but we suspect that there may be more of them in the trees."

"We're going in with formation Sigma," Kiara said while Oliver went to gather his things. "Dark Thunder variation." Looking over at Mako, she added, "It's going to be you and me in the air. Everyone else will be our rearguard while we flush out any would-be ambushers."

"Understood," he nodded sharply, causing her to breathe a quiet sigh of relief. She hadn't been certain that he would be amicable to taking orders, given how he had exploded at Lilina on account of their feud.

"Oliver will be leading the rest of you on foot, follow his orders as he gives them," she continued. "Liz, Gil, he'll need you as mid-range support, so stick to spellcasting unless he says otherwise. All of you, stay hidden until the fireworks start." Pounding her fist to her heart, she added, "For Ylisse."

" _For Ylisse,_ " her troops replied.

* * *

Mako and Kiara crept above the trees on silent wings, keeping an eye out for any ambush posts surrounding the clearing that she and Oliver had scouted. As soon as they reached the lip of the greenery, Mako turned to his leader and made a series of hand signs that read, 'Four guards. No tree posts. Change plan?'

She shook her head and signed back, 'Play safe. Knock down trees, distract ground forces.'

He nodded his understanding and moved closer to her, dark energy swirling in his hands as his brow bent downward in concentration. Hovering abreast to him, she reached out with her right hand toward the sky, even as he stretched out his left. In low voices, they chanted, " _O might of the storm, O strength of the night, may your wrath smite those that stand against the light…_ "

Black-purple thunder clouds began to appear over the clearing, rumbling ominously as they began to obscure the sunlight. Down below, they thought they could hear the sounds of men shouting in surprise, but they ignored them.

Continuing their incantation, they intoned, " _With the contradiction of nature do we send forth our will. With the power passed down through the blood in our veins we do enforce our will. Go, Akuma no Inazuma!_ "

The clouds swelled threateningly, then belched forth a rain of purple lightning, striking down the rings of trees that surrounded the clearing in a way that caused them to fall towards the men, crushing all of them as they tried to flee. The storm clouds quickly faded away once they ceased fueling the spell, satisfied that they had done their part.

"Seems there were no sentries after all," Mako commented as he began to float down into the now-crowded clearing.

"It never hurts to be cautious," Kiara commented. "At least this way we know that we won't be shot in the back as soon as we make for the portal."

"True," Mako nodded as they alighted on the ground, near one of the Grimleal men whose bottom half had been crushed by a tree. He was trying feebly to pull himself free when Mako's blade appeared at his neck, forcing him to remain still, save for his heavy breathing.

"Who…?" he croaked hoarsely before shaking his head. "Actually… it-it doesn't… matter… Please, kill me…"

"I'll have my comrade here grant you that wish, after you answer some questions," Kiara said as she knelt next to him. "The alternative is that we leave you to die of shock and blood loss, which I can guarantee will be much more painful than a stab through the heart." If Mako was disturbed by her cold assessment of the man's situation, he did not show it.

"Wh-What do you… want?" the man gasped, shuddering as a wave of agony wracked his body again.

"Are you Grimleal?" she inquired.

"I am," he panted. "I… lived to see the return… of my lord, Grima…"

"Why kidnap those children?" Kiara demanded a little more harshly this time. She was aware that the other Shepherds were now approaching through the wreckage, on guard for any surprise attacks. "Grima is dead. His spirit no longer even exists."

"W-Wrong…" the man gasped, his eyes wide as he stared into the sky. "My lord… he lives… But he is not living… as creation intended…"

"What do you mean?" Kiara asked, a chill running through her.

"He… needs life to live…" the dying man coughed, spitting up blood. "Born from death… he can only die… But… if another dies in his place… he may yet live…"

"You're a bloody lunatic," Kiara snorted. "Grima was slain with the Exalted and Fell Falchion both. He couldn't have survived both Naga's magic and his own."

"Hah…" the man exhaled slowly. "Couldn't… he…?"

"Kill him," the girl ordered, rising to her feet. "He's either mad or hallucinating in his death throes. He's no good to us, but I don't want to let him die slowly- send him to hell so he can meet his beloved dragon." Mako nodded without a word and ended the man's life with a quick stab to his heart, just as they had promised.

"They're sacrificing these kids so that somebody masquerading as Grima can gain more power from the lives that he takes," Mako said in disgust as he cleaned his blade on the man's clothes. "Repugnant."

"That does seem to be the most likely case," Kiara nodded as the others finally finished picking their way through the debris that she and Mako had made. "The real question then becomes, 'Why go to all the trouble to amass that kind of power?'"

"What power?" Oliver asked as he walked up to them. "Also, nice mess here."

Kiara explained what they had managed to glean from their conversation with the Grimleal before adding, "At least we don't have to worry about any more surprises from these people. At least, not until we get into the Outrealms…"

"About that…" Mako said quietly. "Once we go in, how do we find our way back out if we have to go far? It's not as though we have a map of the place, and according to the stories out parents told us, it constantly changes. We could get lost in there."

"From what I've been able to tell, the exit isn't ever really all that far from wherever we need to be, and Grandpa never mentioned any difficulty in getting out, even after spending six months of fighting and recruiting Einherjar," Kiara shrugged. "I see no reason why it should be any different for us. Besides, our enemies haven't seemed to have issues with getting in and out."

"I never took you for a devil-may-care planner," Mako said with a raised eyebrow.

"Normally I'm not, but Aunt Morgan says I need to be more flexible in my approach to tactics, not to mention I just don't have enough knowledge on the Outrealms to form a solid strategy," she replied grimly. Looking over at Oliver, she asked, "Are we all ready to go in?"

"Yeah, I had our fliers go back once I realized we were all clear, and they will be bringing the supply wagons along," he nodded. Glancing at the fallen trees, he added, "We _might_ want to clear a path, though."

* * *

"Everyone ready?" Kiara asked the others as she stood before the shimmering gate to the worlds beyond. "Once we go in, it may be some time before we return. And to be honest, much of what we will encounter inside will be unknown. If any of you wish to depart our company now, I will not fault you for it."

"Hah!" Kerry snorted. "If we were gonna run off with our tails between our legs, we wouldn't be Shepherds in the first place! That, or we'd be Yinne, who's only staying because Minerva made him."

" _Why am I always the example?!_ "

"Kerry's right," Elizabeth said with a fierce grin as she buzzed her crimson wings. "We don't fear the unknown, and we don't know the meaning of the word 'surrender'."

"But some of us might be willing to learn!" Yinne interjected again.

"This is why you're always the example," Altman said dryly.

"Hark, fellow heroes!" Odin crowed as he stepped up. "Mine sword hand beckons me toward the call of destiny! I shall follow its lead, to places where only the brave and the bold dare to venture!"

"…I refuse to fight to that," Ignacio muttered.

"We're all with you," Gilbert asserted. "Nonsensical monologues notwithstanding."

"Thank you," Kiara said with a smile as she turned around, Oliver following suit.

"This will be an epic of epic propor- _ack!_ " The sound of Odin's windpipe being crushed by Elizabeth brought a smile to the faces of nearly everyone else in their company.

* * *

They emerged from the portal onto rolling plains of golden wheat stalks that stretched out under a clear noon sky. It was a beautiful sight to behold, especially given…

"I was expecting something along the lines of a labor camp," Mako commented. "I don't see anything that resembles a structure for miles- not even a camp."

"This place can play tricks on us, so don't believe everything you see at first glance," Kiara warned them. However, she did also say, "I suppose it's possible that things are a lot more peaceful in here with the Einherjar mostly under my Grandfather's control, instead of constantly fighting each other."

"Doesn't Lady Morgan control them now?" Gilbert inquired.

"No, they apparently made their contracts with Grandpa Robin, and refuse to follow orders from anyone but him," Kiara replied. "Otherwise I would have asked if I could borrow a few…"

"Eh, we don't need 'em," Brian shrugged. "Pretty sure that Mako, Ollie, and Odin could substitute for a small army on their own, not to mention that the rest of us ain't too bad, neither."

"It's a _very_ good thing Grandma Maribelle didn't hear you just now," Altman said as they began wading into the plains. "Pretty sure she would have a heart attack."

"Pfft, my counterpart, your father?" Brian laughed. "He's a way tougher nut 'n I am, and she survived his brand a nonsense. 'Sides, I talk nice enough whenever I'm at the estate."

There was a deep sigh, followed by the sounds of coins clinking in a small bag. Everyone turned to see Ignacio tossing a pouch to Yinne, who was snickering quietly. "What was that all about?" Oliver asked.

"Lucky Rabbit Foot over there and I have a few bets going on concerning the rest of you," the Prince of Plegia grumbled, apparently sore about his loss. "I wagered that Brian is just as crass at home as he is with us. Yinne bet that his mother has him whipped."

"'Scuse me?!" Brian spat.

"You're gambling on our personal matters?!" Celica exclaimed. "Rude!"

"What?" Ignacio shrugged as Yinne nervously pocketed his ill-won money under the watchful glare of Minerva. "We've been bored. He doesn't like chess, and I don't like listening to him worry about everything. This seemed like a happy medium."

"Actually, this sounds like it could be a lot of fun," Oliver grinned, much to his cousin's disapproval. "I want some of this action. What else did you guys bet on?"

"I wagered that Altman would ride a pegasus bareback before he caught the attention of a lady," Ignacio volunteered. "Yinne has a little more confidence in him, I suppose."

"Oei!" the healer growled, red-faced. Turning to the half-taguel, he said, "Actually, thanks for that, but as for you…" Turning back to Ignacio, who was trying very hard not to laugh, he added," Next time a sword goes through your belly, don't come bleeding all over me! You're on your own!"

"I'm with Ignacio, actually," Oliver shrugged, prompting Altman to glare at him, too. "Sorry pal, I just don't see it happening with that mean face of yours, not to mention you have a habit of causing more wounds than healing them with your staves." Ducking the swipe that his friend aimed at him, he added, "See?"

"I b-bet that Oliver would rather eat Kerry's rhubarb p-pie than let Odin borrow his Falchion," Yinne managed to get out.

"Hey!" Kerry shouted, hefting her spear at the young man from atop her horse, Yinne paling rapidly.

"That's not fair!" Kiara's cousin added. "You're basically asking me to choose between food poisoning and an act that I would equate to cutting off my own arm!" His Falchion had been given to him by his uncle right before they had set off on their own, passing on the torch, as it were. It was the Fell Falchion, the blade that had ended Grima's life once the Exalted Falchion had bound his Avatar in place. Lilina actually had one similar to it- an uncorrupted and unblessed version of the legendary sword- having been bequeathed to her by her future counterpart.

"Somebody's about to get speared, and it's gonna be where the sun don't shine!" Kerry snarled, her eyes darting between Oliver and Yinne.

"But which one would you choose?" Ignacio grinned. "Current threats from our fair tomboy aside, which would you rather do?"

"I would rather jump off a cliff than make this decision," Oliver deadpanned.

"Not an option," Ignacio teased. "You have to choose. Odin gets the Falchion for a day, or you wind up on a cot being treated for gout."

"Hrgrh!" Kerry seethed.

"Blast it, I'd eat the pie," Oliver groaned.

" _What?!_ " the prince shouted. "Odin having the sword is only for a day! Kerry's pie is- _OW!_ " The man clutched at his head, where the girl's spear had hit him with the shaft.

"Exactly, it would be _Odin_ with a sacred weapon," Oliver deadpanned. "Even for a few hours, can you imagine what damage he could do and/or tales he would spin?"

"That is a… good point," Ignacio grumbled as he reached into his bag again. "Fine, Yinne. You win this one, too."

"Stop betting on people!" Kiara snapped.

"Ha!" Ignacio grinned as he re-stuffed the small pouch back in his bag while Yinne looked disappointed. "I knew it!"

"What was that one for?!" Kiara demanded.

"I bet that you would try to stop our game as soon as you found out about it!" the Plegian youth laughed.

"Kerry, hit him again."

 _Thwack!_

"Yeow!"

"Thank you!"

* * *

They spent some hours walking through the fields of golden plants, with the fairies among them (save for Kiara) even flying off in different directions for forty minutes, only to come back and report that they had seen nothing out of the ordinary. For all they knew, they could be in the same spot that they had started, except that they could no longer see the portal back to their world. This little fact worried some of them- especially Yinne- but most of them trusted Kiara. She had been trained by the best, and so she must have some sort of plan in mind, right?

Mako, however, was not so confident. He knew Kiara well, and despite his aggravation with her and Lilina at present, he did not want to see her maintaining a façade that would undoubtedly crack under the pressure if she did not have someone to confide in. _But I told Lilina that I would have nothing special to do with either of them until they had things between them sorted,_ he thought with a frown as he trudged along behind Kiara and Oliver. _Although now that I've talked to Gil, maybe punishing Kiara for Lilina's hastiness is unfair… But at the same time I don't want to give off the wrong impression to either of them… Gah! I hate this!_

Deciding that he needed some space to clear his head, he announced, "I'm going up ahead for another recon."

"Mako, you were flying for nearly an hour nonstop earlier," Kiara cautioned as he spread his wings. "I would rather you conserve your strength."

"I have plenty of strength left," he replied shortly. "Sorry, but I need some time alone."

"All right," she nodded, though she looked a little sad. "Just say that next time, please. And if you don't mind, maybe just keep an orbit above us so we don't lose sight of each other."

He considered arguing back, but then caught himself, realizing that he was on the verge of being too harsh for the sake of injured feelings and pride. "Alright," he nodded before he took to the air, breathing in the fresh wind and enjoying the feeling of leaving his troubles behind on the ground again.

 _That's better,_ he thought to himself. _Just me, the wind, the sun, and the smell of burning gra-_ He stopped dead in his tracks as he sniffed at the air more intensely than taking a casual breath. "Something is on fire around here," he scowled, looking in every direction, but seeing nothing of smoke.

Still, there was a breeze, which meant that the smell could be carried on it, even if the blaze was out of sight. Grumbling to himself, Mako realized that he might not be about to get his alone time. Collapsing his wings, he zoomed back toward the ground, opening them just in time to make a solid landing a few meters in front of his comrades, who looked startled at his sudden reappearance.

"I smelled smoke, coming from the north," he reported as he pointed toward the right of the setting sun. "It was faint, but I didn't catch a whiff of it when I was flying around earlier."

"So either it's a recent one, or just really far away," Oliver remarked as he peered in the indicated direction. "I don't see anything, though."

"Visual confirmation or not, it's the first thing we have to go on in the way of a destination," Kiara asserted. "I say we check it out- if we're lucky, we'll chance on those Grimleal dastards."

"I would count that as bad luck, finding people that wanna kill us," Yinne muttered, but like everyone else, he turned to follow Kiara as she led the way in the new direction.

Mako said, "Well then, if it's all the same to you, Kiara, I'll just be heading back up."

"May I join you?" He was surprised when Celica rode up on her Pegasus, a cheery smile on her face.

"Er, sure," Mako shrugged, uncertain if it was a genuine desire to keep him company that had her acting, or if it was some kind of ploy by Lilina to get him to talk to her again. He almost immediately discounted that idea, though. Impatient and a little entitled might be some of the princess' negative qualities, but subterfuge and guile were not among her faults.

With that in mind, he and the Pegasus Knight took to the air, high enough to keep their comrades in plain sight, but not so far that they would have difficulty breathing. The instant that they leveled out, Celica said in a casual tone, "So I heard that you and my sister got in a fight."

"Is nothing in my life private?!" he shouted, though not loud enough that his comrades on the ground would be able to make out his words. "Good Naga, I can't have five minutes without somebody asking, 'So have you bedded the princess yet?' Or, 'Have you tipped the scales with Kiara yet?' _Enough_ already!" Done ranting, he settled for breathing heavily and glaring at Celica, whose face remained fixed in an impish grin as they floated along in the air.

"Touchy subject, huh?" she replied.

"No, what gave you that idea?" he asked, making no effort to hide his sarcasm.

"Well, Lily came and cried about it for like an hour to me, so there's that," Celica answered, unabashed. "But I gotta say, I'm actually kinda impressed by you."

"Bwuh?" Mako sputtered, looking askance at the blue-haired girl.

"I mean, I feel sorry for her, but more because she did it to herself than anything," the rider replied. "You, on the other hand, actually had a choice that a lot of people would envy, but you chose to do what you felt was right, and stood your ground when things got tense. That takes a lotta guts, Mako. I guess what I'm getting at is that I don't have any hard feelings toward you about the whole mess. If anything, I've grown to admire you more for it."

"Er… Thanks?" he said awkwardly, still not entirely sure that she wasn't baiting him into some kind of trap. "I honestly thought that you might try to impale me once we got up here."

"Nah," Celica giggled. "I just wanted to make sure that we were cool. I know this trip has been kind of a blow to Lily's pride, what with Daddy telling her that she wasn't gonna automatically be in charge, then you telling her off. She's not used to not getting her way."

"Is this supposed to make me feel better?" Mako deadpanned. "Because it's not."

"Like I said, I just wanted to let you know that I don't have any hard feelings about the whole thing," Celica shrugged. "And that I think you did the right thing."

"…Thank you," the boy said quietly after a moment.

"On the downside, I guess this means that I'll never get to have the coolest brother-in-law of all time," Celica laughed, causing Mako to introduce his face to his palm.

* * *

After they'd had their fill of flying, the pair returned to the ground, with Kiara ordering Elizabeth and Minerva to take their place. "Now that we more or less have a path to follow, I think it's imperative that we keep an eye out for what it is that we may be walking into," she explained. "Send one of you down if you get a visual on whatever is causing that smoke."

Both women gave her a sharp salute as they took to the air to follow their orders. Surprisingly, neither of them complained about it, but Kiara supposed that after nearly a full day's worth of monotonous marching, the two of them were glad to have something to break the cycle.

Mako fell into place near the rear of the column, his face still a little grim, but less so than before. _Celica must have somehow cheered him up, or at least figured out some way of helping him to see things in a new light,_ she thought as she swung her gaze back around to the front. She wanted to go and talk to him, but she had decided to hold off on that until Lilina had her chance to apologize and explain what had gone on between them.

No sooner than Kiara had formed the thought than did the crown princess slow her pace to walk side-by-side with the Spriggan boy. "Can we talk?" she asked in a low tone.

"Did you two come to an understanding?" he replied in an equally lowered tone, his voice emotionless.

"Yes," she nodded glumly.

"Then yes," he replied as they slowed their pace to drop a few dozen yards behind the others, where as long as they kept their lowered tones, the mutterings of their comrades would cover any of their own words. Once they had done so, he asked, "What is it you wanted to discuss?"

"Kiara and I spoke before we made it to the Outrealm Gate," Lilina answered him. "About you, how we both feel about you, and how we feel about each of us being with you. Kiara made some things about myself that I oft ignore very clear to me, and illustrated to me just how selfish my pursuit of you has been. For that, and for the way that I have acted as of late, I ask your forgiveness, Mako. I have not been behaving as a princess- much less a friend- should. I am very sorry for it, and I do hope that with time, our friendship can be what it once was."

Mako looked over to her, the hard lines in his face softening as he recognized her apology as a sincere one. "You ask my forgiveness, and I say that there is nothing to forgive," he said gently, catching her by surprise. "I also cry your pardon for my harshness, Lilina. I have been under a great strain as of late, but that is no excuse for such wrath to be aimed at you."

"I needed it," she admitted as she cast her eyes back down to the ground. "I have been rash, and I cannot fault you for acting as you did. Nonetheless, since you ask it of me, I forgive you for your angry words."

"Thank you," he said softly, sounding much more like himself than he had been for the last few days. "I'm proud of you, Lilina. Unbending your pride enough to not only apologize, but to also ask for forgiveness takes a tremendous amount of humility. I believe that trait will serve you well when the time comes for you to be Exalt."

"Thank you," she murmured. Straightening her shoulders, she said, "Kiara also wants to speak with you in private, now that I've said my piece. She told me that she intends to continue pursuing you in her own way, but now I wonder if she might be a little more direct about it since my indiscretion has caused this whole mess."

"I really can't get a moment's peace around here, can I?" Mako grumbled, but unlike before, he did not seem genuinely angered by the prospect.

"Mako…" Lilina started, then shut her mouth.

Seeing this, the boy asked, "What is it?"

Casting her gaze down once more, she said in all but a whisper, "Give her a chance. I think that you two would be very happy together."

Mako frowned a little and asked, "Are you saying that to make the thought of giving up on me easier, or because you don't want me to think ill of her?"

"I say it because I believe it," she answered. "However painful it is for me to admit out loud, it is the truth as I see it." Tears fell from her eyes, but she quickly dashed them away. "Whoever you end up with, I wish you only the best."

To that, Mako could not find a suitable response in words. So he did the only thing he could think to do. Reaching out, he grasped her hand, still wet with tears from her eyes, and kissed it gently, causing Lilina to gasp and stop in her tracks along with him.

"Why…?"

"You are loved, Lilina," he managed to say with a pained smile. "Though it is not the same love you hold, I want you to know that you are loved by your friend."

In that moment, the princess could not tell if she was crying from the agony of knowing that she would never have his heart, from the relief of knowing that he still cared for her, or if the tears were brought on by the sheer fury she directed at herself, having pushed things too fast. Perhaps it was a combination of all three. Whatever the source of her quiet cries, Mako stayed behind with her until she had poured out all of her grief and anguish, and though it was a small enough comfort, she was grateful for it.

* * *

The sun was beginning to set when Elizabeth shot down to land in front of the party, her face grim as she turned to her commanding officer. "Minerva and I can make out the glow of a large fire, about two hours away from here on foot," she reported. "On fairy wings going as fast as we can fly, I estimate that we could be there in less than fifteen minutes."

"What do you think, Kiara?" Oliver asked. "You two along with Gilbert and Mako could fly ahead and at least assess the situation, see if we've found our Grimleal friends."

"I know, but I feel uncomfortable stripping our aerial defenses so heavily," she replied, her brow bent in concentration as she weighed her options. "Not to mention that it's getting dark, and we could easily lose sight of you in the night."

"We can set up camp here," her cousin offered. "Clear the area and light some small fires so that you'll be able to find us again when you come back."

Now Kiara was shaking her head in the negative with certainty. "Too risky for both parties," she decided. "We'll break for the evening and send out three of us in the morning as an advance party. Hopefully we've found our kidnappers, but it could be another hostile force."

"What if they're friendly?" Oliver asked.

"Can't chance that," Kiara replied. "No, we'll camp here for the night. Tell everyone to unload, and have Teela clear the plant life out so that we can have a proper cook fire without worrying that we're going to light the fields ablaze." Addressing Elizabeth directly once more, she ordered, "Tell Minerva to get down here and have Pina assist with the clearing of the shrubs."

"Aye," she replied as she took to the sky once again.

"I'm on it," Oliver said as he moved back to signal to everyone that they could stop to unpack and rest. He paused when a particular figure in black walked up to him, but then they moved past each other without incident.

"Lilina said that you wanted to talk," Mako said as he approached his leader.

"Did you two work things out?" Kiara asked quietly.

"We did," he nodded. "Firstly, I would like to say that I am sorry for delivering such an ultimatum to her and you both. Will you forgive me for acting rashly?"

"Of course," she nodded with a small smile. "I'm glad that the two of you are all right."

"I don't know that we're 'all right' just yet, but we will get there eventually," Mako nodded. "Now, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I mostly wanted to make sure that you were okay," she shrugged. "And to ask if you needed to talk about anything in confidence."

"Can we talk up in the air?" he requested. "I'd rather reduce the chances of us being overheard, as there are some things I want to clear up."

"Of course," she nodded as she walked off after Oliver. "Just let me notify Ollie, then I'll join you in the sky."

* * *

A few minutes later, they were floating on their black and azure wings, alone in the late afternoon sky. Elizabeth and Minerva had both returned to help set up the camp, so there was no chance that they would attempt to eavesdrop on the two of them.

"What is it that you wished to discuss in private?" Kiara asked the boy.

"I'm sure you have a fair idea," Mako replied with a slightly raised eyebrow. "But I'll speak of what I believe to be the most concerning thing at the moment. That is, our relationship."

"Our working relationship remains unchanged, no matter the outcome of any events between us, as I'm sure you know," Kiara said swiftly. "As for our relations as friends, I think that you will be surprised to find that I am likely just as confused as you are with regards on how to proceed with things between us."

"Well, at least I'm not alone in that regard, then," he said with a grim smile. "The way that I see it, my understanding is that you are in love with me- unless I'm mistaken?"

"You're not." She shrugged, feeling a little helpless as she added, "I have been in love with you for some time, but never did I imagine it coming to light as it has. I wanted the first time that I told you how I really felt to be a special moment, one that I would treasure for many years to come. Instead, it nearly cost me two of my closest friends, because I did not act with enough confidence."

"You acted as only you would, and there is no shame in that," Mako told her. "And you haven't lost Lilina or me. As I said before, I simply don't know how to move forward, knowing how you feel, without knowing my own heart."

"Which is precisely why I kept quiet for so long," Kiara replied. "But it doesn't matter now. What does matter is knowing where each of us stands, for your sake."

"What about you?" the boy asked.

"My feelings don't matter right now," she answered in a strong voice. "As with all things that I do for my comrades, my needs come second, only to be addressed when they have been cared for. Understand this, Mako; whether or not you come to love me back, I will always put your needs before my own. That is the duty of a true tactician, to care for their troops before themselves."

"Then would it change nothing between us?" Mako asked her with a slight frown. "Would me reciprocating your feelings merely be a change in how others view us?"

"No," Kiara said firmly. "I am not saying that at all. To start, being with you would make me very happy. But what I was trying to tell you is that my primary purpose would be to love you, and to see you be happy in a life shared with mine. Should you not reciprocate, I will still do my best to see you be happy, but in a different role- one of being your friend, nothing more."

"Do you truly think so little for yourself?" her friend asked, a new respect for her growing in him. "Is there nothing that you want for yourself?"

"I do," she nodded. "I want you to love me as I love you. With unconditional, ever-growing, undying love for the one that you desire to spend your life with, and to love them so that it does not matter how long you must wait for them. That is my dream, and I know that it may remain only that- a fantasy. Yet I lay it before you now, in the hopes that you will return my feelings, or at the very least not dismiss them out of hand."

Mako gulped nervously- Kiara was showing a side of herself that he had no idea existed before a few weeks ago, and she was doing so without reserve. She was making herself incredibly vulnerable to him, yet she was doing so with a will of iron. It spoke volumes of how much she trusted him- or how confident she was that he would reciprocate her affections. Either way, it painted her in an impressive light as far as he was concerned.

Now she waited for him to respond, her jaw set, and her eyes searching his. He saw fear in them, but also hope and trust. He had never seen such brave eyes, he thought.

It took him a few moments to answer her declaration, but he finally managed to say, "You certainly don't hold back, do you?" She continued to gaze up at him without wavering, so he said, "I can't deny that your words have touched me- deeply. Because of that, I will be fully honest with you." He gathered his thoughts amid the pounding in his ears that echoed his heartbeat, then took the plunge. "I love you also, Kiara, but it is not the same love that you hold for me- leastways, not yet. I never thought that I would feel anything for you but the love of comrades in arms, but now… You have been so kind to me, uncomplaining through the mess that Lilina and I created, so that I cannot see you as I once did. I do not yet know if my feelings toward you are changing into a romantic love, but I am willing to pursue these confusing thoughts of mine for your sake- only so long as you keep me company on the journey."

"I appreciate your honesty," she replied, her eyes alight with a new joy as a smile spread across her lips, her wings buzzing excitedly. "And I accept your offer to explore what lies in your heart- and I further promise to safeguard it, not only against my own selfish desires, but also the ploys of others that would seek to harm you."

"When we return to Ylisse, I will speak to your father about the matter of our courtship," Mako promised her, a small smile alighting his own face. "Until then, for as much the sake of our honor as my own need to carefully explore this new realm of unknowns, I ask that we proceed slowly."

"Of course," Kiara nodded somberly, though her eyes were still full of joy. "You know that I've never been one to rush things."

"True," he nodded, looking a little relieved. "And if I might ask that we not make a formal announcement to the others until I have spoken to Lord Marth? I don't feel the need to rub salt in Lilina's wounds."

"Again, I can agree to that," Kiara said as she hovered a little closer to him. "May I now make a request?"

"Yes," he answered, though she noticed him tense up with nervous anticipation.

Moving slowly, she slipped her arms underneath his and wrapped them around his torso, leaning into his chest, letting out a long sigh of relief as she breathed, "Please hold me, even if only for a moment. I think I've earned it."

She felt him hesitate, and for a moment, she wondered if she had pushed him too quickly. Then a pair of thin, strong arms wrapped themselves around her back, and she smiled again. Her heart felt lighter than it had in years, and she nearly giggled when she remembered that they were quite literally walking on air.

* * *

They returned to the camp not long after, and no matter how much any one person asked them what had happened, they refused to divulge the contents of their conversation. They acted as they had up until the Tournament of Power in Ferox, which now seemed like a lifetime ago. It seemed apparent to their colleagues and family members that _something_ must have passed between them, but what exactly that was remained a secret shared only by the two of them for the time being.

They had just started cleaning up their dinners when the sound of something whistling through the air at high speed preceded an arrow slamming into Mako's right shoulder, his primary fighting arm.

He swore angrily as he gathered magic in his left hand, even as the Shepherds scrambled into a defensive formation. "How'd they get past you, Celica?!" Kiara demanded as she whipped out her wind tome.

"No one got past me, I swear it!" the princess answered vehemently. She had been on guard duty, and was now falling into formation with the other winged units on the ground, ready to take back into the air at Kiara's command. "Whoever shot at us did so from outside the range of my patrol!"

"In the night?!" Mako hissed angrily as Altman broke the shaft behind his back. As the healer swiftly drew out the missile, he grunted, "Not even Sir Virion could make that shot!"

"Maybe they were lucky!" Elizabeth replied, lighting up a flame in her hand to cast a better light on the area surrounding them.

"Ha!" a familiar voice crowed. "Luck has no part in our endeavors, foul villains! Mine sword hand will smite with might and skill alone!"

"Odin, shut up!" Ignacio ordered angrily.

"I didn't say that!" Odin protested.

"Yeah right," Kerry snorted. "Only you would threaten people with your stupid 'sword hand!'"

"You dare mock Odin Dark, the scion of legend?!" a girl's voice demanded from beyond the edge of the firelight. "You will face the wrath of his shadow for your blasphemous deeds!"

"What the hell is going on?!" Oliver demanded as he looked over at Odin, who seemed just as perplexed as everyone else. "Do you have a fan club out here that we don't know about?!"

"I don't think so?" Odin answered dumbly.

"Ophelia, cut it out!" A man's voice cut through the night now. "You'll give away our position!"

"Idiots, you've already done that!" Elizabeth called out.

"Not now, Severa!" answered a voice that sounded an awful lot like Ignacio's.

"Severa?" the salamander girl asked, bewildered. "I'm not Severa!"

By now, Altman had finished healing Mako's wound, so the boy got to his feet and drew his sword, dark magic still gathering in his left palm. "All right, whoever thought it was a good idea to shoot me, let's see you do it again!" he shouted into the night, interrupting their current exchange. "I'll wager you ca- _Waugh!_ "

His challenge turned into a yelp of surprise as another arrow shot down from the sky to nearly pierce his body in the same spot as before. From further out in the fields, they heard a woman's voice call, "The next one will not miss, Black Spirit. Surrender yourself if you hold any fealty to your underlings, lest our company lay waste to them."

"Black Spirit?" Mako repeated, his eyes snapping up to search the darkness. "Isn't that-?"

"If you wish to harm one of the Shepherds, you will have to deal with us all!" Kiara shouted back into the night, wind swirling in her hands, ready to fly at the slightest provocation. "Do not underestimate the protectors of Ylisse!"

"You're not the Shepherds," asserted a female voice this time, the tone stern and commanding. "We know you're Grimleal, following that sycophant around as you are."

"Grim-?! How dare you!" Oliver roared, brandishing the Fell Falchion. "Would those devoted to Grima wield the weapon that killed him?!"

"I hold little doubt that you use it as a trophy after taking it from the man who used to wield it," the mystery woman answered. "Though I suppose commendations are in order for managing to best Marth in combat."

"Marth is my uncle, you dolt!" Oliver spat. "My mother is Lady Morgan, and my father Sir Laurent, both Shepherds of great renown."

"Hold on just a sec!" another young woman's voice piped up. "If that's true, how come you're walking around with Mataras?! Especially after the things he's been doing here in the Outrealms?!"

"What the-?!" Mako sputtered, now growing even more furious. " _I'm not that BASTARD!_ " he bellowed. "I am Mako, son of Sir Kirito and Lady Asuna, champions of Ylisse! Identify yourselves before the might of Ylisse's newest Shepherds falls upon you!"

"So just because you're newer, you're automatically better, huh?" The second woman's voice answered, before there was a blur of yellow light that stopped in front of the young company, startling them. "Have to say, I'm not very impressed."

"Y-You're…" Kiara said, her eyes wide as they all took in the sight of the newcomer.

'She' happened to be a girl with short brown hair, eyes, and yellow wings that- from the descriptions of their parents and their comrades- the new Shepherds recognized as those of a Cait Sith fairy. She also carried a powerful-looking longbow. And the only Cait Sith that was known for being a crack shot with a bow was…

"Lady Sinon?!" Oliver all but shouted. "Is it really?!"

"Apparently my reputation precedes me," the woman replied dryly, her eyes not leaving Mako, who was feeling very uncomfortable now. "You," she added, "You're Mako? Kirito the Black Swordsman's son? I doubt that very much, especially given that it's only been two years since I left the Halidom."

"Actually, you've been gone from Ylisse for twenty years, my lady," Gilbert said smoothly, though he remained aware of the bow in her grip, plus the arrow that was resting on the bowstring. "It has often been theorized that time passes differently between the realms, especially those connected by the Outrealms. If memory serves, did you not originally herald from a realm in which time passed differently than that of my home?"

"And what would you know about that, Sylph?" she asked him levelly.

"My mother was once a friend of yours- Lady Suguha, or perhaps better known to you as Leafa," Gilbert answered swiftly. "Our parents told us the tales of the realms that they came from, Aincrad and Alfheim."

Sinon regarded them all curiously for a few moments, her lips moving without sound coming out. Then she drew back a little ways and said, "Yes, I recognize some of you- or rather, I recognize your future counterparts in you. Lucina, Cynthia, Severa, Owain, Inigo, Brady… The others I do not know."

"Hey!" Mako barked. "Why did you shoot me?!"

"We've been busy with your future double for a few weeks," the woman answered dryly. "He attacked us not long after we came here to make our way back to Ylisse, saying that he was looking for Kirito and Robin. He had some of those Grimleal freaks with him, nearly got us. We've been trying to find our way out of here ever since, but his goons keep finding us every few days and trying to kill us."

"Okay, hold on," Oliver interjected. "Who is 'we'?"

"Yeah, gimme a second," Sinon muttered. Raising her voice, she called over her shoulder. "They're not Grimleal! They're kid Shepherds!"

"Kid?!" Ignacio sputtered. "You can't be much older than we are!"

"Yes, well, when you've assisted in the destruction of two demon dragons, you can call yourselves adults," a voice identical to his said as the owner stepped into the light. "Until then, you're all just rookies to us."

"I take it that you're Sir Inigo, then?" Kiara asked a man that matched Ignacio in every way, save that his face was a little harder, and he had a relatively fresh scar under his right eye.

"At your service, milady," he said with a winning smile and a courtly bow. "Who be you?"

"Inigo…" another woman's voice said warningly. "What'd I tell you about hitting on other girls?!"

"I was honestly just asking!" he yelped as a young woman with long purple hair and red eyes stepped up beside him, Imp wings buzzing angrily.

"Uh-huh," she huffed. Turning to the others, she said, "Wassup, I'm Yuuki, one of the original Shepherds!"

"Actually, Mama, that title goes to people like Exalt Chrom and Grandmaster Robin," said a low-pitched girl's voice. A lady armed with a sword and Inigo's perfect smile came into the firelight next. "Hey there," she said in a candid manner. "I'm Soleil, daughter of Laslow and Yuuki. Though, you probably know my papa by his old name, Inigo."

"You're _married_?!" Ignacio all but shrieked at his future double. "With a kid?! How are you still that young?! Also, you're _married?!_ What about my wild youthful years?! How could you do this to us?!"

"Pocket dimensions in which time passes much more rapidly than it does back home," another voice- this one a young man's- said by way of explanation. The owner was a blond archer who added, "I am Prince Takumi of Hoshido, Father of Kiragi, and Husband to Lady Sinon." As he spoke, he stood by the mentioned woman's side, while a boy with wavy brown hair and an irrepressible smile stepped out from behind him to wave happily at the dumbstruck Shepherds.

"Hoshido is real?!" Gilbert exclaimed. "I thought it was myth!"

"Nope, my Dad's the real-deal prince of the realm!" Kiragi laughed. "Hi there, everybody! Mom has told me all kinds of stories about your homeland! I'm excited to be going there, myself!"

"Hang on, this is a lot to take in," Kiara said before anyone could answer him. "Are there any more of you out there?"

"Just three," Sinon answered dryly. "Any second now…"

"Great, first we almost get killed by that jackass, now I've gotta be around his current time's self?" Elizabeth's voice grumbled, followed by a slightly older and more heavily armored version of her floating down to land beside Sinon. She fixed a particularly venomous glare on Mako before adding, "Hated him in my future, hate him even more now. I wish I would've stayed in Nohr."

"Aw, but think of how sad Grandfather would be if I went to see him, and you weren't there, Mother!" piped up a red-haired girl that had somehow popped up while Severa was talking. She wore a battle mage's outfit and vermillion cape, which caught the eye of more than one Shepherd present. "Hello everyone, I'm Ophelia," she said with cheery smile. "Sorry we almost had to light you on fire."

"T'would have been a grand flame, however tragic!" proclaimed a voice that made every other Shepherd but Odin stiffen with dread.

"Don't tell me…" Elizabeth groaned.

"Unfortunately," Severa grumbled.

"Alas, descendants of comrades old!" Owain declared as he leaped out of the wheat fields, resplendent in a golden cape and dark mage's outfit. "It is indeed fortuitous that we meet now, for mine sword hand has longed for its return to the place of its birth!"

"Hark!" cried Odin, his eyes alight with untamed glee as he and his counterpart saw each other clearly. "I understand your pain, Dark Hero, for the very same blood runs through my veins, scorching the very marrow of my existence, demanding that I return to my homeland, with each of my comrades safe by my actions!"

"At long last, a worthy rival approaches!" Owain laughed with a matching delight. "It is sealed in blood, the blood of heroes and heroines unmatched!"

"Oh gods, _there's_ _two of them!_ " Elizabeth screeched, echoing the thoughts of her comrades, who had all grown quite pale.

"Just when we thought he couldn't get any more obnoxious," Takumi said dryly, his tone much the same as Sinon's.

"Hey!" Ophelia pouted. "Daddy is the Scion of Legend, and a lot of us wouldn't be alive if it weren't for his bravery!"

"The sad part is, she's not wrong," Sinon muttered.

"Wait, _Daddy_?!" Elizabeth yelped, turning crimson as she looked at her counterpart, who had hidden her face behind her right hand. "Does that mean-?!"

"I do _not_ want to discuss it, especially with myself," Severa said warningly without removing her hand.

Elizabeth promptly expelled her dinner before passing out cold in the dirt.

"That was rude," Owain said with a frown.

"I'm surprised we tolerate them at all, seeing how they never appreciate how tirelessly we devote ourselves to being heroes," Odin added, his expression in the exact likeness of his future self.

"I know, right?!" his future self said. "I urge that we convene the Justice Cabal this instant to discuss this crisis! It has been too long!"

"I concur!" the younger son of Lissa declared.

"I'm in!" Celica laughed, causing her sister to mimic Severa.

"Has the world gone _completely mad_ , or is it just me?!" Mako demanded of no one in particular. "I demand an explanation for all of this!"

"Then sit down, kid," Sinon told him as she gestured to the fire behind him. "It's gonna take a little while to fill you in on what's been going on since we left. And I expect that we missed out on a few things, too."

* * *

 **Kirito: So, uh... Where's Mataras?**

 **Asuna: Apparently he's still laughing himself silly from having two different versions of Owain meeting each other.**

 **Kirito: Oh, okay. To be fair, that was pretty funny. the only thing is...**

 **Asuna: You're wondering how this ties in with Fire Sword Fated Incursion, right?**

 **Kirito: Yep. Is it a retcon or what?**

 **Asuna: Not at all. Mataras and N-Sight have collaborated to make sure that there are no continuity errors between the three stories, which does mean that those who read this before reading FI will be getting some minor spoilers.**

 **Kirito: Bummer. At least it seems like Mataras is trying to keep the spoilers to a minimum.**

 **Asuna: He is, and some of them were already kinda obvious for anyone who was looking, and it's not like he gave away-**

 **Kirito: Looks like we're out of time! Hope to see you all next chapter, where the Shepherds do some catching up with each other and their new enemies!**

 **Asuna: Next time- Black Blade, Stained Soul**


End file.
